A Good Man
by pennysstuff
Summary: Having survived Canary Wharf, Ianto Jones is sent to Cardiff to take control of Torchwood 3 and to manage the small team of 4... plus the immortal Jack Harkness
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** A Good Man  
**Main Characters/Pairings:** Ianto/Jack  
**Other Characters/Pairings:** Mentions of Ianto/Lisa, Tosh, Owen, Suzie, Gwen/Rhys  
**Rating:** M (in later chapters)  
**Warnings:** Character death, flashbacks to past child abuse and crappy parenting  
**Spoilers:** Refers to events and conversations that can be found in various episodes of Torchwood (except Miracle Day, cos I'm just not going there) and Doctor Who (although the Doctor and Rose don't exist in this universe)  
**Disclaimer:** The characters and happenings of Torchwood don't belong to me. I'm not that cruel.  
**Summary:** Having survived Canary Wharf, Ianto Jones is sent to Cardiff to take control of Torchwood 3 and to manage the small team of 4... plus the immortal Jack Harkness  
**Author's Note:** This is an alternate reality Torchwood, so the time lines will not be the same and certain events may take place in a different order to what you are expecting

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 1**

Ianto Jones sat in his partially unpacked flat and looked around at the piles of boxes and sighed. Only 30 or so more to go, he thought resignedly.

He had arrived in Cardiff late the previous night after an emotional journey back from London, his home for the past six years. As the journey had worn on, the traumatic memories of the day his world fell apart that had been flooding his head were gradually overshadowed by other equally unpleasant childhood memories. Cardiff contained just as many bad memories as London now did.

By the time he arrived at his new flat he was so mentally exhausted that all he wanted to do was settle down for the night and sleep. Every time he managed to fall asleep though the nightmares came, causing him to have such a restless night that he felt totally drained the next morning.

When he finally gave up trying to sleep and dragged himself out of bed he decided he would spend the day unpacking. He tried to soothe himself by getting his flat organised, by trying to make some order from the chaos. His sister Rhiannon had helped him out before he arrived by arranging a flat for him so he would have somewhere to go to when he arrived. The flat was not too far from her home, and was within walking distance of Ianto's new work place. She had a fairly good idea of what sort of place her younger brother would like, and the short-term lease she had arranged meant he would be able to move relatively quickly should she have got it wrong. All he really had to do when he arrived was set up the flat and buy himself a new car, having sold the old one he used to share with Lisa before he left London. There were too many memories surrounding that car, and really it was always Lisa's car, not his.

Ianto sighed again. Lisa. Six months ago he had been happily engaged to his girlfriend Lisa Hallett and they were busy making wedding plans. They both worked in rewarding jobs for Torchwood London, with hard-earned promotions on the horizon. But all that abruptly changed on that one terrible day and now here he was, back in his hometown of Cardiff, all alone, and given command of Torchwood Cardiff, otherwise known as Torchwood 3, in some feeble attempt at compensation for what he had been through. Images of people screaming and buildings burning flashed through Ianto's mind once again. As if being bundled off to Cardiff could possibly make up for losing Lisa, he thought angrily to himself.

Shaking his head in an attempt to get his thoughts back on track, he stood up and went into the spare bedroom. There were even more boxes in there waiting to be unpacked. These boxes in particular, he knew, contained many of Lisa's belongings that he had decided to keep. He wasn't sure if he was ready to open them just yet.

He decided he would get out of the flat for a bit instead. It had been many years since he was last in Cardiff on any regular basis, so he thought it would be a good idea to reacquaint himself with the area before he started his new job. He wandered aimlessly for a while, making mental notes on what was around and where it all was. Before he knew it, the afternoon had turned into night and he found himself walking through an empty park.

In the distance, he saw a familiar looking man chasing after someone. As the two got closer, Ianto saw that the 'some_one'_ was actually a 'some_thing'_, a creature he recognised to be a Weevil. The man chasing it managed to catch up with the Weevil easily enough, but during the subsequent struggle the Weevil appeared to be getting on top of him. The man tried to spray it with something, but that didn't seem to have much of an effect on the Weevil and it easily evaded his grasp, pushing him into a tree. After a bit more struggling the Weevil pushed the man to the ground and went for his throat. Neither of them noticed Ianto standing there.

Trying not to panic Ianto looked around him and found a sturdy looking branch on the ground. He picked it up and whacked the Weevil firmly across the back of its head a few times, distracting it just enough for the other man to be able to get back to his feet and finish subduing it.

Ianto leant against a nearby tree silently watching as the man regained his breath. The man watched him back, looking him up and down appreciatively. Ianto knew all the Torchwood 3 staff files inside out and he knew exactly who stood before him.

"Captain Jack Harkness," the man stated with an obvious question and a slight leer in his voice. He held a hand out to Ianto.

"Jones," Ianto replied, and when there was no recognition from Jack he continued with "Ianto Jones." He accepted Jack's outstretched hand and watched him carefully for a reaction.

The smile fell off Jack's face as he realised he had just been bailed out by his new boss. Ianto registered the change in Jack's mood, but tactfully didn't comment. He knew of the terms of Jack's contract with Torchwood, and he was astute enough to recognise that a new director at Torchwood Cardiff would not necessarily be welcome news for Jack.

"Lucky escape," Ianto offered.

"I had it under control!" Jack retorted, not prepared to give an inch.

Ianto smiled at him knowingly, giving him a look that quite clearly said 'you think so'. Jack stared back impassively. Ianto saw that the wound on Jack's neck had stopped bleeding already. He was going to say something else but a moan from the Weevil diverted both men's attention back to why they were actually there. Jack turned around and slung the Weevil over his shoulder, ready to bundle it into a waiting vehicle.

"I'll take it from here, shall I?" Jack asked. "Thanks for the assistance."

Ianto would have liked to speak with him a bit longer, but he merely nodded and let him go. He couldn't however resist a parting shot as Jack walked away.

"By the way, love the coat!"

* * *

The next morning Ianto woke early, having had a far better sleep than the previous night. Not wanting to deal with yet more boxes he wandered into the kitchen and set the coffee machine going. He glanced thoughtfully at the clock and on a whim he grabbed a thermos. When the coffee was ready he filled the thermos and headed out. He went down to the bay and stood near the entrance of the Tourist Information Office that was Torchwood 3's public face. He didn't have long to wait.

"Morning!" he said brightly as Jack exited the building. "Coffee?" he asked, holding out a freshly poured mug. The extensive files Ianto had been given in London documented that Jack would usually leave the building around this time of day to go for breakfast. Ianto decided to save him the bother of getting at least the coffee.

Jack looked at it mistrustfully but then decided he should at least try his boss' coffee. He figured he should at least pretend to like it, but to his surprise he found he really didn't need to pretend. It really **was** good coffee.

"Wow!" he said in genuine appreciation.

"Listen, I thought we could have breakfast together. You know, let me tell you about myself before I start work officially," Ianto said.

Jack sighed. "Ianto Jones, born August 19th 1983. Able student but not exceptional, one minor conviction for shoplifting in your teens. A number of temporary jobs, mainly a drifter, until five years ago when you joined the Torchwood Institute in London. A Junior Researcher until you moved into Archiving, eventually becoming department manager. Girlfriend, Lisa Hallett…"

"Deceased," Ianto interjected. He laughed sourly to himself – it seemed like all Torchwood branches were the same. They kept exhaustive files on the activities of their staff and all the alien life forms it encountered, but when it came to supposedly unimportant personal matters like say your fiancée being brutally massacred, apparently that didn't even rate a mention.

"Sorry," Jack paused and then went to resume his monologue when Ianto interrupted once more.

"OK, OK, I get it. You checked me out. You can judge for yourself if I have the right qualifications for the job, or not, but that's not why I'm here."

Jack had started to walk off, but spun around and spoke angrily. "We should have nothing to do with Torchwood London. If I could have my way we would have severed all links." He started to walk off again.

"Yet when it burned, two members of your team scavenged the ruins." Ianto moved in front to stop him moving by placing a hand on Jack's chest.

Jack took hold of Ianto's hand with his finger and thumb and removed it carefully, but emphatically. "Didn't want the equipment getting into the wrong hands."

"Oh, and you're the right hands, are you?" Ianto scoffed.

Jack glared at him. "I lost someone very special at Canary Wharf. A death that never would have happened if it hadn't been for Torchwood London and their eternal messing about with things that don't concern them. Torchwood Cardiff has it's own job to do, it's own place in the world and we don't need anyone from London telling us what to do.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have some place to be." Jack continued walking away.

Ianto let out a breath. "Same time tomorrow then!" The next day was when he officially started at Torchwood 3. Jack half turned around just in time to see Ianto give him a wicked grin.

"I really like that coat!"

* * *

Ianto made his way home. He was disappointed about how things had gone between himself and Jack. It seemed he would have to work hard to gain Jack's trust and respect. Although that went both ways really – just how trustworthy Jack actually would turn out to be remained to be seen. Ianto knew how long Jack had been with Torchwood, and he also knew that it wasn't strictly voluntary.

Torchwood had a motto, one of many actually, that if anything was alien it was theirs. And once it had been found out that Jack was not born on Earth, he was classified as an alien. Little matter that he was from a human colony, he was born off world and therefore Torchwood had claimed him as its own. After Torchwood had run various tests on him, they set him to work.

Ianto had spent a fair amount of time reading up on Captain Jack Harkness. Emily Holroyd and Alice Guppy had left detailed reports of their tests on Jack. Ianto grimaced at the word 'tests', it was blatant torture what had been done to Jack and as disgusted as Ianto was by it, he had no trouble believing that that type of behaviour would have been sanctioned by Torchwood.

Jack may no longer be tortured by Torchwood, but he was still trapped by them. Once Guppy and Holroyd had got bored with seeing how many ways they could kill Jack they offered him a contract. The contract bound him to working for Torchwood for the rest of his lives, doing whatever the current director of Torchwood 3 wanted him to in exchange for no longer using him as a test subject. Ianto could never work out from the files why Jack would have agreed to this. He couldn't see how a man like Jack Harkness would even let himself get into a situation like that. Surely he could get himself off the planet if he wanted to. Ianto thought there must be a really good reason for Jack to want to hang around. Ianto wanted to know what it was.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 2**

He had just returned home from a trip to Earth in the 1940s where he'd had the perfect con planned. Passing off a Chula ambulance ship as a war ship, planting it in a particular part of London he knew was going to be blown up by a German bomb, selling it to a couple of Time Agents he discovered travelling in a passing retro-look time travel vehicle and then disappearing with their money before they had a chance to work out what had happened. It was going to be the perfect self-cleaning con.

But as with all perfect plans, something was bound to go astray. And astray it went. The ship wasn't empty; his supposed victims weren't Time Agents and he never got any money from them. In fact, he barely escaped with his life. The only good thing to come out of the whole mess was his new army coat and a brand new alias to go with the coat. He would now be known as Captain Jack Harkness.

* * *

He hadn't been back on the Boeshane Peninsula for very long when, as it so often did, trouble came his way again. A highly unusual energy reading was being emitted, the source of which was unknown. He managed to find some contacts at the Time Agency who were still speaking to him and they told him their readings showed a time vortex in a parallel universe was causing the unnatural readings. Beyond that, they really didn't have a clue what was happening.

Unable to resist a challenge, Jack tried finding the source of the energy for himself; he didn't have anything better to be doing with his time after all. He used his Vortex Manipulator to scan for the readings and that's when the trouble found him. A massive power surge locked onto the signal from his wrist strap and the last thing he heard before everything went dark was a massive explosion.

When he regained consciousness he found he was sitting against a wall in some building he had never seen before. The building was silent, no machinery humming, no people speaking, just a deadly silence. He looked curiously at the piles of dust on the floor in front of him and then stood up. He had to brace himself against the wall as he nearly collapsed; his legs weren't as steady as he thought. He slowly walked down the corridor looking for some clue as to where he was but other than piles of the dust everywhere he couldn't find much.

Eventually he found what looked to be a control room. Flicking a few random switches he quickly discovered there was no power left anywhere. He opened up his wrist strap to take a reading and gasped in shock when he saw where he was. He was apparently on a space station orbiting the Earth but not only that, he had also travelled to the year 200,100. The readings also confirmed there were no other life forms on the station. Jack knew he should get out of there as soon as he could – with no power there would be no life support and the oxygen would run out pretty quickly – and he quickly realised he would have to use his wrist strap to get himself out of there.

The wrist straps the Time Agency supplied to their agents had the capacity for time travel over short distances. Travelling approximately 195,000 years in time though was too much, it overloaded Jack's Vortex Manipulator and part way through the journey the manipulator simply lost control. When Jack materialised he immediately saw he wasn't back in his own time. He was at least on the Earth, but in 1869. Unfortunately too, the time travel function had burned out so his wrist strap would be useless for getting him back to the right time. Knowing he had no other choice he resigned himself to the fact that, for now at least, he would have to remain in this time and would somehow have to earn a living to survive.

He spent the next few years wandering around, trying to stay out of trouble whilst all the time trying to find anything he could use to fix his wrist strap. He ended up in America for a while, managing to keep a low profile until one day in 1892 he got into a bar fight on Ellis Island. A man there thought Jack was getting just a bit too friendly with his wife and shot him through the heart. The man dumped Jack's body in an empty field and left him there. But then Jack woke up. Thinking that was a bit strange, Jack returned to his lodgings to collect the few belongings he had and then moved on. A few months later he fell off a cliff – or was that pushed off by the mob that was chasing him – and he woke up to find he had survived death once again. Then he fell off a horse and then he was shot by a stray javelin. By this time he had started to get the message – he was not going to stay dead.

He decided to leave America and eventually ended up in Cardiff where, after a number of deaths, he woke up in an alleyway to find Emily Holroyd and Alice Guppy staring down at him. After rendering him unconscious they took him back to Torchwood and started their "tests".

For weeks they used everyway imaginable to kill Jack, all in the name of Torchwood. Eventually though they gave up, admitting to themselves they hadn't found out anything useful, and started to think of other ways Jack could be used to benefit them. Their idea was to put Jack to work for them, he could do all the dangerous work for them since it didn't matter if he died or not. Jack agreed to do one job for them, hoping this would be enough to get them off his back. When he brought the recalcitrant Blowfish in for them he was horrified to see Guppy cold-bloodedly execute it with no warning. That was enough for him and he promptly told them he would not work for them anymore. They gave him a night to think about it and he quickly disappeared into the nearest bar to try and drown out all thoughts of Torchwood.

As he was sitting there a young girl brandishing a pack of tarot cards walked up to him. "Can I read your cards?"

"No, thank you," Jack replied.

The girl pushed some cups and bottles off the table, throwing one over her shoulder, to make space and sat down regardless.

"No, really," Jack said, a little bit more firmly this time.

She ignored him once again and started to set the cards out. "A man will come, one who will give you the answers you need." She continued laying the cards out.

"He's coming. The one you're looking for. And you will only find him through Torchwood." She laid out the next three cards before continuing. "But the century will turn twice before you find each other."

"Oooh! Are you for real?"

She just looked at him and Jack stopped laughing. Somehow he knew she was telling the truth. He picked up a card with a picture that looked suspiciously like him.

"You mean I have to wait a hundred years to find him? Hnnh! What'll I do in the meantime?"

* * *

What he did was stay with Torchwood. He signed the contract agreeing he was an alien and that he belonged to Torchwood. He signed himself up to be at the personal use of whoever was in charge, knowing it meant he would never be able to leave. Not that it really mattered, if he had to stay with Torchwood to find out what had happened he really didn't have much of an alternative. For over a hundred years he stayed and served Torchwood exactly as they asked. Some of the directors, people like Emily Holroyd, took the contract literally making him serve them in anyway they asked. Other directors, like Alex Hopkins, almost became friends and gave him a little more freedom, even allowing him to stay away from the Hub at times or have relationships outside of Torchwood.

The tarot card girl also appeared from time to time, always in the same clothing, never looking a day older, just to reassure him he was doing the right thing. She would never give him any information about herself, or tell him exactly who it was he was waiting for. She was just a presence who was around often enough that he didn't feel entirely on his own.

The day Alex Hopkins killed himself after killing the rest of the Torchwood team Jack was devastated, but being left control of Torchwood he had hoped things would improve for him. Torchwood One however chose to ignore the CCTV footage of Alex gifting Torchwood Three to Jack and seconded Suzie Costello from UNIT to act as caretaker of Torchwood Three until a new permanent director was found. She was given custody of Jack, but not told of his immortality or the finer details of his contract. This gave him more freedom than he'd ever had while at Torchwood but a timely visit from the tarot card girl made sure he didn't also take the opportunity to walk out.

She told him she had to go to London, and visit the Torchwood offices there. Torchwood London were interfering with things they shouldn't be touching and she had to protect someone there. She needed Jack to stick around, in case she needed help with this unknown person she had to save. After Canary Wharf, and the subsequent fall of Torchwood London, Jack never heard from her again. Going through the list of the deaths from Canary Wharf a while later, he saw a picture of one of the unidentified bodies found in the building – it was the tarot card girl.

* * *

After the fallout from Canary Wharf died away, it was announced one of the survivors, a man called Ianto Jones, would be coming to Cardiff to take up the vacant director's role. After experiencing the near friendship with Alex, and then the relative freedom under Suzie, Jack was apprehensive about what this would mean for him. As a survivor of an alien attack, how would Ianto treat Jack, a confirmed alien and property of Torchwood? If he had ever wanted to run from Torchwood now was the time.

One night he was out hunting a Weevil through a park when his time to disappear ran out. Standing in front of him was the new director Ianto Jones. Jack hadn't bothered reading through Ianto's file yet and hadn't known what he would look like. Looking at Ianto standing there in the moonlight with his tight jeans and studded belt Jack felt a shock run through him. Was he the one he had been waiting for? He smiled at Ianto, wanting to know who he was. Then Ianto said his name and the smile fell off Jack's face. He was the new director, the one who could remove all of Jack's freedom, just like that. It couldn't possibly be him, could it?

Jack went back to the Hub that night and pulled up all the information he could find on Ianto Jones and read it over and over. To his disappointment there was nothing there to suggest Ianto was anything other than what he appeared to be. Looking at the photos on file and looking at Ianto's dark hair and blue eyes, something which Jack had always been a bit partial to, he reluctantly began to think his reaction was simply a more baser reaction to the sudden appearance of a good looking man. He closed the files down in frustration, there was nothing useful there. Ianto was just another Torchwood One drone, that was all.

The next morning when Ianto turned up outside the Tourist Office Jack just didn't want to know. It was enough he had to work for him from Monday, couldn't he have one last morning in peace? Jack got away from Ianto as soon as he possibly could without appearing too rude and left Ianto behind. He'd be the faithful alien employee tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 3  
**

Ianto straightened his tie one last time as he prepared to enter the Torchwood building. It was his first day as the Director of Torchwood Cardiff and he was determined to make a good impression on the rest of the team. Keeping up with the Torchwood One dress code, he was immaculately dressed in his favourite suit; black with narrow grey pin stripes and a light pink shirt with a striped silk tie. He knew that the staff of Three didn't bother with suits, but wearing suits felt more comfortable to him than going casual.

Taking a deep breath he pushed open the door to the Tourist Office and as expected, Jack was standing there waiting for him.

"Welcome to Torchwood Cardiff Jones, Ianto Jones," he said politely with just the hint of a grin.

"Captain," he replied. Ianto looked at Jack, who was looking him up and down, before turning around and taking note of the general shabbiness of the office, noting the various out-dated leaflets and trinkets that were lying around.

"Who works in here?" he asked.

Jack shook his head. "No one, we don't really want to encourage too many people to come snooping around here. Besides, after Canar… well, after what happened, everyone knows about Torchwood now. Probably don't even need to keep the office here any more really."

Jack showed Ianto where the button for the hidden door was and turned away to lead Ianto down the corridor leading into the main Hub. Ianto followed, watching Jack's coat tails swishing about his legs as he walked. Ianto rolled his eyes at himself – he had no idea what sparked his previous comments about liking Jack's coat. It wasn't like him to say something like that; especially to someone he had just met, and more importantly one of his employees. What _had_ he been thinking?

As they left the corridor and stepped through the big cogwheel door Ianto looked around at the enormous cavern that was the Hub. He had seen blueprints of the Hub but they hadn't prepared him for the sheer size of the place. Once the cogwheel door had rolled back into place and the alarms had stopped blaring Jack started pointing out the main areas, including Ianto's office. Finally he took Ianto up to the Board Room where the rest of the team were waiting.

The others were sitting around the long rectangular Board Room table in their customary places, all except Suzie who had changed places to allow Ianto to take his place at the head of the table. Jack showed Ianto to his seat, and then took his own seat around the corner to the left of Ianto.

Jack pointed to the people sitting around the table and started the introductions. "Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper…"

"**Doctor** Owen Harper, thank you!" Owen interrupted.

Ignoring him, Jack continued, his face softening with an affectionate smile as he introduced the next person. "Toshiko Sato, computer genius, and Suzie Costello, she's your second-in-command. Everyone this is Ianto Jones, Ianto is our new boss."

Ianto smiled and nodded at each person as they were introduced.

"And he looks good in a suit," Jack finished off.

"Careful, that's harassment, Jack." Ianto and Jack looked at each other and after a moment both of their faces broke into playful, if reluctant, grins. The hostilities of yesterday's encounter seemed to have been pushed aside, for the moment at least.

Ianto looked around at the faces of the people seated around the table and using his photographic memory, recalled the information in their files.

At the opposite end of the table to him was Doctor Owen Harper, formerly from London; he had been recruited from a major hospital in Cardiff. He had been hired by Torchwood after his fiancée had died under mysterious circumstances and he managed to attract Torchwood's attention with his subsequent persistence in trying to find out exactly what had happened. Ianto wondered if this loss would give them any common ground: he had heard that Doctor Harper could be somewhat snarky and difficult to get along with ordinarily.

To Owen's right, and to the left of Jack, was Toshiko Sato. She had been released into Torchwood custody from a UNIT prison facility after being found committing treason. Ianto had read the details of her alleged act of treason and whilst he couldn't deny it was treason, given the circumstances surrounding it he was glad that someone – Jack – had seen fit to get her out. He was impressed by the achievements recorded in her files, and was glad she hadn't been left to rot in prison.

Opposite Toshiko was Gwen Cooper, a relatively new recruit to Torchwood. Her role was basically to liaise with the police on matters that could potentially affect the public. Torchwood may no longer have been a secret organisation, but there was still a distinct lack of trust between themselves and the police. Gwen's role was aimed at bringing the two organisations closer together. Her former beat partner, Andy Davidson, was also sometimes brought in to assist and had proven invaluable to Torchwood by alerting Gwen whenever something suspicious happened. Gwen also performed a lot of the admin work for the branch.

And finally, sitting to the right of Ianto and next to Gwen, was Suzie Costello. She was the only team member, apart from Jack, that Ianto thought he might have problems with. Suzie had been brought to Torchwood Cardiff shortly after Alex Hopkins' suicide, as a temporary measure until a permanent leader was found by Torchwood London. That search had been neglected somewhat as London had been side tracked by other bigger issues. It was only now, with the fall of Torchwood One, that a new director for Cardiff had been appointed and Suzie would have to give up her position of power. It remained to be seen whether Suzie would stay on at Torchwood now that Ianto had arrived.

Despite being the highest ranked survivor of London, Ianto had never held a position anywhere near the rank of Director. He had only ever been a department head and Ianto was a bit unsure how the team, especially Suzie – who he was effectively ousting from her position – would perceive this lack of experience of life at the top.

When it had been announced Ianto would be taking over at Cardiff, he knew that she had protested quite vehemently about how she was the better choice, but she was overridden by a committee who wanted desperately to get Ianto Jones off their hands. After the bad press Torchwood had received over Canary Wharf, Ianto was to be touted as an example of how they looked after the survivors, as well as supporting their recoveries and careers.

Ianto looked over at Suzie as she pushed a cup of takeaway coffee his way.

"Gwen went out earlier to grab some breakfast for us all." She pointed at the pastries and other beverages on the table. "We weren't sure how you take your coffee, so I hope this is OK."

Gwen smiled. "We do have a coffee machine, but none of us can get it to work very well."

Ianto smiled, maybe there was something he could do to break the ice with the team then. "Do you want me to take a look at it? I can be quite handy with a coffee machine."

"Be my guest," she replied.

"I suspect it contains alien technology," Jack laughed.

The team then took turns to give a brief description of what they mostly did, and what their current projects were. Ianto advised them he would meet with them all separately over the next few days to discuss their current projects in more detail. After that the impromptu meeting was over and the team filed out, leaving Suzie behind with Ianto to go through the details of the handover of both Torchwood and the official "custody" of Jack.

Ianto spent the rest of the morning either being shown around by Jack or going through paperwork and other various issues with Suzie. Tosh gave him a basic run down of the technologies they were using and Owen showed him around the Cold Storage room, or as it was more commonly known, the Autopsy Room.

When lunchtime came around Ianto left the team to have their lunch while he went out – there was something he wanted to buy. He got back to the Hub just in time to find the team leaving in response to a rift alert. Saying hello and goodbye to them he wandered into the kitchen area to take a look at the coffee machine. He had bought a packet of his favourite brand of gourmet coffee and fully intended to have the machine running smoothly by the time everyone returned.

Ianto shook his head in disgust when he saw how clogged up the filter was and he spent a good hour cleaning out every removable part of the machine he could get to. He grimaced as he caught a whiff of the coffee grounds as he threw them out. He shuddered to think when the machine had last been cleaned. Finally the machine was clean enough to meet Ianto's high standards – even the outside of the machine had been cleaned and polished to perfection. Putting in a new filter, Ianto started grinding some coffee beans just as Jack called in via the comms to say they were on their way back. The timing was excellent and Ianto had six cups of coffee ready just as they walked in the door.

Suzie, Gwen and Tosh groaned in delight when they tasted their drinks. Ianto had somehow managed to make their coffees exactly the way they liked. Jack smiled knowingly, he had already been treated to Ianto's coffee and he knew exactly how they felt. Owen looked at them and shook his head.

"Looks like we've got a new tea boy, not a new director!"

"Owen!" Tosh looked surprised, and a bit embarrassed by Owen's lack of respect to their new boss.

"What?" Owen threw back at her. "If the cap fits…" and with that Owen grabbed his own coffee and took a sip. The entire team laughed as they saw the look that appeared on Owen's face – it pretty well matched the looks on the girls' faces when they tasted their coffees. He scowled at them all and walked down to the Autopsy Room without another word.

Ianto smiled to himself and grabbing his own coffee he headed up to his office with Suzie to hear her report on what happened with the rift alert.

Later in the afternoon Ianto finished reviewing the staff reports he had been looking at and left his office. He stood on the balcony outside his office and quietly observed the team below him as they worked. Tosh was working at her desk, looking at her screen intently whilst rapidly typing away. Gwen was on the phone following up some suspicious activities that had been reported to the police, trying to see if any of them needed Torchwood's involvement. Jack was nowhere to be seen, he had planned to do some work in the archives so Ianto assumed that's where he was. Suzie was at a desk piled high with alien artefacts that she was trying to identify and Owen was still in the Autopsy Room.

Deciding it was time for another coffee Ianto went down to the Autopsy Room to see whether Owen wanted a refill.

Owen looked up cautiously as Ianto entered the room. He wasn't sure if he had overstepped the line earlier by calling Ianto 'tea boy' and had stayed in Autopsy all afternoon to avoid him.

"Need a refill?" Ianto asked, holding up his own cup.

"Sure," Owen said, relaxing a little. "Err, boss… About earlier…"

"It's fine," Ianto interrupted. "Just don't go making a habit out of it though. I'm not anyone's tea boy."

Owen nodded. Ianto looked at him briefly then winked at him before turning around to go and make the coffees.

After handing Owen and the girls their coffees Ianto decided he would take Jack's to him. He hoped he wouldn't get lost in the lower levels. Jack had shown him through some of the rooms, but the lower levels seemed to go on forever. As he was walking down random hallways looking for Jack the lights flickered on and off occasionally. He wondered if there was something wrong with the electrical wiring.

Luckily he found Jack relatively soon – he was coming out of one of the rooms just as Ianto came around the corner. Jack looked up at Ianto in surprise.

Ianto held up Jack's cup. "Coffee time," he said.

Jack gave a half glance at the door he had just exited and began herding Ianto back up to the main level.

"What were you doing in there?" Ianto asked.

Jack shook his head dismissively. "Nothing much, just putting stuff away. Our archives are a bit of a mess at the moment." He looked back to the room again but said nothing more.

Ianto looked at Jack closely. The way Jack was moving them away from the room struck him as a bit strange but he decided not to push it any further. He decided to change the subject. "Jack, while I was looking for you the lights were flickering a bit. Is there a problem with the wiring?"

"It's an old building, that's all. It's nothing major," Jack replied.

They were now back on the main level and Jack immediately left Ianto and went over and sat by Tosh's desk, effectively ending any further conversation with Ianto. He started discussing a problem she was having with the programme she was working on. It was not an area Ianto was able to assist with so he left them to it.

Ianto decided he should spend some more time with Suzie, and get to know more about the project she was currently working on. He walked over to her desk.

"So Suzie, tell me about this glove…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Thank you to Torchwood Cardiff, Mickanella, SunshineAndDaisies and Mattasaurus14 for their reviews of the last chapter - real life has been a bit of a pain this week and I haven't had a chance to reply to each one individually. Thank you also to everyone else who has reviewed, favourited and alerted - it makes this author very happy! :-)

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 4  
**

As a young girl growing up in Cardiff, Suzita Naidoo was a happy child. Too young to sense the ever-growing tension between her parents, she relished the attention she reaped from both of them. As she grew older though, her mother's growing depression after a miscarriage, her father's increasing temper and bad moods, the both of them paying her less attention, and the ongoing prejudices over her parents' interracial marriage coming from both sets of grandparents, led Suzie to the conclusion that maybe things were not as good as they seemed.

One night she woke to an argument between her parents. She didn't quite understand all the words they were yelling at each other but she eventually worked out that Mrs Pallister, a family friend who lived down the road, was somehow the cause of the argument. She didn't understand the words her mother was saying, like "hussy" and "floosy", anymore than she knew what her father meant by calling her mother an "ice maiden", but she knew a line had been crossed that night. The argument ended when her father broke her mother's most cherished vase, a gift given to her by her much beloved great-grandmother shortly before her death.

A light went on in Suzie's head. All those thumps and bumps she would hear at night, all the times she thought she heard crying when she was supposed to be asleep in bed, they all suddenly made sense. And so, when a few weeks later, her mother had packed them a bag each and they left their house while her father was at work, she wasn't too surprised to realise that they would never be going back.

For nearly six months they moved around to avoid her father finding them. Her mother eventually decided they would adopt her great-grandmother's maiden name and change their surname to Costello, and once that was done they took their new identities to London and stayed there while Suzie grew up.

Not long after her mother's death, Suzie accidentally was caught up in a retrieval mission of UNIT's. She was walking down the road one night when a strange looking creature ran past her, quickly followed by a group of men in black uniforms and red caps. The creature stopped and grabbed her, putting her between it and the pursuing men. The stand off was eventually resolved by sniper fire from one of the black uniformed men who had climbed onto a nearby roof.

Suzie remained remarkably calm during the whole episode and didn't even flinch at the realisation that the creature was an alien. Her calmness under fire was admired greatly by those around her, and instead of the standard retconning they decided to offer her a job instead. At first her job was very low level, mainly filing and other types of admin work. Suzie, however, was very ambitious and keen to succeed and it wasn't long before she was being trained for fieldwork.

The increase in her security clearance meant she was able to adjust her own personal records. She erased her past addresses and history, and changed the records so that her surname always appeared to have been Costello. She knew her father was still alive, and her mother's paranoia about him one day finding them had slowly rubbed off on to Suzie. Now that she had changed the records, no one would ever be able to match her to him. Still, she longed to return to Cardiff. It still felt like her home, and London still felt like a temporary bolthole, so when the opportunity came up to fill in at Torchwood Cardiff she jumped at the chance.

Everything went well at first; she had new levels of responsibilities, she had a new team to lead and get to know and she was back in Cardiff. She wasn't sure about the whole deal with Jack, and having temporary custody of him. She knew there was a lot more to it than she was being told, but as long as it didn't interfere with her job too much she was happy to let it go. She was, for the first time in a very long time, genuinely happy.

Then one day they found a glove and matching knife in the bay.

* * *

Jack wandered up from the lower levels of the Hub expecting it to be empty, given it was late at night and the others had long gone home. Instead he saw Ianto standing by the desk with the artefacts that Suzie was working on. He was about to continue on quietly down to his bunker, hoping that Ianto wouldn't see him, when he realised something was wrong. Ianto was standing there, as if frozen, looking down the glove. As he watched, Ianto tentatively reached out a hand and picked up the glove. The effects were instantaneous.

Ianto felt a shock run through him and the glove started to get very warm in his hands. Images of creatures being killed violently by something wearing the glove and wielding a knife ran through his head. The killings grew bloodier and bloodier and soon it was as if all he could see was blood. With a great effort he threw the glove down.

Ianto's knees buckled and he would have fallen to the floor had it not been for Jack's lightning fast reflexes. He had started running when he saw Ianto's reaction to the glove and he grabbed hold of Ianto and held him upright. Jack was shocked to feel Ianto shaking violently in his arms.

"Ianto?"

Ianto looked up at Jack, but Jack could see that his eyes weren't really focussed on him. Jack was shocked by the terror he could see reflected in Ianto's eyes. Jack reached out with a foot to roll one of the office chairs closer to them and gently sat Ianto down. He knelt in front of Ianto and spoke his name again, trying once more to get Ianto to focus on him, and finally, with a series of blinks Ianto finally managed to focus on the man in front of him.

"Ianto, what happened? What are you doing here?"

"I have these dreams from time to time," Ianto explained. "More like nightmares about events that could possibly occur. Something about that glove must have stuck in my mind. I had a nightmare... I saw three people being murdered. Sarah, Rani and a John Tucker. They were stabbed with an unusually shaped knife. It wasn't until I woke up that I realised it was the same knife that I saw here, the one that Suzie was working on. Also there was something there about a glove, something I couldn't quite grasp. It wasn't until after I woke up that I could put the two together. They were found together, weren't they?"

Jack nodded but didn't say anything.

"There's something about that glove, and the knife too." Ianto paused. "Jack, the knife isn't here. Where is it? I couldn't see who the murderer was. All I saw was a flash of red and blue."

They were both silent a moment. Ianto lowered his head, still shaken by the visions the glove had caused. He looked up at Jack suddenly and as they looked at each other they both simultaneously realised exactly who had worn a red and blue top that day.

Springing out of the chair Ianto grabbed his phone and dialled Suzie's number. There was no answer.

"Ianto, what was the name of the first victim again?"

"It's Sarah, Sarah Pallister."

"And did you see where she was killed?"

"It was a house." Ianto shrugged and shook his head slightly. "But I don't know where."

Jack logged on to a terminal and brought up her file. Downloading her details into a PDA he tossed it over to Ianto and they ran for the garage.

On the drive to Sarah Pallister's house Jack thought about what Ianto had said about his dreams.

"Ianto, your Torchwood personnel file. It doesn't mention anything about psychic training. I thought all Torchwood One staff had to undergo at least a basic level of psychic training?"

Ianto was quiet for a moment, thinking about how he wanted to answer that. "I did. I scored pretty high in both the psychic abilities test and the empath test. Torchwood just didn't like to record anything for people who score too highly, in case the information ever got used against them."

Jack nodded. It made sense to him. "Guess that explains how you knew how to make our coffees then, hey?"

Ianto smiled slightly.

They drove a bit further before Ianto spoke again. "Jack, you should probably know I have a meeting with the committee tomorrow. They want to go through the full details of your contract and officially putting you into my custody."

Jack didn't say anything. It was only the barely perceptible tightening of his grip on the steering wheel that gave away the fact that he had even heard what Ianto said. Ianto sighed and turned back to face the road in front of them. He wasn't entirely comfortable himself about having custody of another adult, but he really didn't have a choice. He knew full well what happened to people who didn't cooperate with the committee.

When they arrived at Sarah Pallister's house they saw Suzie on the footpath, just standing there calmly looking at the house. Her hand was resting just inside her handbag. Getting out of the SUV Jack stood on one side of her and Ianto the other.

Suzie didn't acknowledge either of them but reached into her handbag and pulled out the missing knife.

Suzie turned to Ianto. "I thought you saw it. There was something in your face that told me you made the connection. It's not much good now, I can't really... But you're gonna put up a fight. So I've got..."

She put the knife back in her bag and scrabbled around for something else. She looked up nervously. "Um. Hold on. Sorry…" She eventually found her gun, pulled it out, put down her handbag and pointed the gun at Ianto.

"There. That's better."

"Put it down." Ianto warned her.

"You had to come," Suzie complained.

"Put down the gun," Jack said firmly from behind her.

Suzie continued, not paying any attention to what they were saying. "You're the only one who would have made the link." By now Suzie was struggling to hold back her tears.

"What am I gonna do? I loved this job. I really loved it. And now I've got to run. Oh, Christ. How can you do any other job after this one?"

"Please. Put down the gun." Ianto tried again and was ignored once again as Suzie continued with her speech.

"Cos it gets inside you. You do this job for long enough, and you end up thinking, 'How come we get all the Weevils and bollocks and shit?' Is that what alien life is? Filth? But maybe there's better stuff out there, brilliant stuff, beautiful stuff. Just... they don't come here. This planet's so dirty, that's all we get - the shit."

"Why were you going to kill those people?"

Suzie finally stopped and answered Ianto. "For the glove. I need the bodies. I think that's how it works. Violent death. And it would be so easy. To bring them back, I'd position myself behind the head, so they would never see me twice."

"You were going to kill three people," Ianto was horrified.

"It was the only way. The more I use the glove, the more I can control it. If I can get enough practice, then think what that glove could do. If I could get it work all the time, on anything, beyond the two minutes, if it could work permanently, it could resurrect!"

Noticing Suzie was distracted by Ianto, Jack moved slowly closer. Ianto didn't look at him, trying to keep Suzie concentrating on him.

"Resurrection on demand for the whole world, isn't that good? Isn't it though? Well, that's what I've been working for, all day and all night. The rest of them go swanning about, but I'm working.

"You've got to get inside this stuff. Surrender yourself to it. I did, with the knife, and the glove, and it tells you things, and I know you're there Jack."

Before either of them had time to react Suzie spun around and shot Jack in the centre of his forehead. He collapsed to the ground dying instantly. Suzie turned back around and aimed the gun at Ianto again.

Ianto shook his head. "Please don't."

"I can't let you go," she replied.

Despite himself, Ianto couldn't help looking behind Suzie as Jack came back to life and stood up. Suzie's mouth opened in shock as she saw Jack standing there. She and Ianto watched in awe as the bullet hole healed itself in front of their eyes.

"Suzie, it's over. Now, come with me," Jack held a hand out to her. Suzie raised her gun and was about to point it at her chin but Jack, expecting her to do something, quickly grabbed her arm and wrestled the gun out of her hand. He looked at her in pity. "I'm so sorry," he said quietly and knocked her out with a stun gun he'd had hidden in a coat pocket.

Ianto caught hold of her as she started to slump and they quickly bundled her in to the back seat of the SUV. Lights had come on in a number of houses when Suzie had shot Jack so they got out of there as quickly as possible, before someone started to investigate too closely. They drove off, heading back to the Hub. Ianto called Owen asking him to meet them there.

On the drive back Ianto leant his back and closed his eyes. He stayed that way for the entire trip, not wanting to say anything. He was just drifting off to sleep when they arrived. Jack looked over him. Ianto had had one hell of an introduction to Torchwood Cardiff he thought. What with seeing the Hub and meeting the team for the first time, the nightmare where he saw the murders Suzie was potentially going to commit, seeing the visions from the glove, Suzie nearly committing suicide in front of him and seeing Jack shot and coming back to life, it was no wonder the man was exhausted. Jack almost felt sorry for him. Until he remembered he had nearly lost yet another team mate himself; and still might, depending on what Ianto decided to do with Suzie.

Once they got back Jack carried the still-sleeping Suzie into the Hub and placed her on the couch. Ianto followed behind slowly, carrying Suzie's handbag and the knife. He walked over and placed the knife and an archiving container on Suzie's table. He looked over at Jack.

"We ought to get these two locked away, I don't want anyone using them ever again."

Jack came over and put the two items inside the container, knowing that Ianto wouldn't want to touch the glove again. Once they were in the container Ianto locked it with a seal that said 'Not for use' and locked it away in the secure archives in his office.

The blare of the cogwheel door alarms signified that Owen had arrived and they left the office only to see that Suzie was no longer on the couch. After a brief moment of panic they saw that she was at her computer terminal.

"I was just making a recording for myself, telling myself not to try and break through the retcon." She paused uncertainly and looked over at Owen. "I assume that is what you're going to do. Retcon me?"

Owen looked between the three of them in confusion. Ianto looked at Jack. "I don't want her moving anywhere while we discuss this. Get her back to the couch and make sure she doesn't go anywhere."

Ianto and Owen went into his office while they discussed the night's events.

"Holy fuck!" was Owen's succinct response to the tale.

The two of them discussed the amount of retcon needed to remove all of Suzie's memories of the glove, the knife and what she had planned to do with them, and whether that amount of it would be safe for her. Owen prepared the necessary dose and went and administered it to her.

While they waited for her to fall asleep Ianto told her the three of them would be going to her house and searching it for anything there that might spark a memory of the glove or knife there. She would be left a note advising her to stay home for the rest of the week.

Ianto smiled down at her as she fell asleep. "We'll see you next week for a brand new start. OK?"

Suzie just managed to nod slightly before she fell asleep.

"Right then," Ianto said. "Let's do this."

* * *

The next morning Suzie woke up feeling like she had slept for a week. She frowned as she saw a note in Jack's handwriting. The note said "Hi Suzie, don't worry about coming in to work for the rest of the week. Watch this disk. Jack." Underneath his name Jack had written a date, a date that was several months into the future. Her frown deepened. Not knowing what else to do, she watched the disk. After she watched the disk and saw the message from herself, she realised the date Jack had written down was actually yesterday's date, not one that was months into the future.

Suzie grabbed her jacket from the back of the door and putting her hands into her pockets she found something there. It was a sealed envelope with a note on the front in her writing telling herself not to open this envelope for at least six months. It also had yesterday's date on it. She thought back to the message she had left herself on the disk and thought she better do what it said. She filed it away in a drawer and promptly forgot about it.

She went downstairs and looked around the lounge and kitchen areas. Whatever had gone on in the last couple of months, it sure looked like it hadn't involved cleaning or taking care of her flat. With a sigh she pulled on some rubber cleaning gloves and settled in for a massive spring clean.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Thanks again to everyone who has left reviews! xxx

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 5**

At Torchwood, a different kind of clean up was happening. Ianto had already locked the glove and knife away the previous night, but he and Jack still had to go through Suzie's computer and remove any case files relating to her research. They had also recovered a few items of alien technology during their sweep of Suzie's house and needed to make sure that there was nothing to link any of it to the glove and knife.

Once they were satisfied that the Hub was clear they waited for the two girls to arrive for work. Ianto had decided only to tell them that Suzie would not be in for the rest of the week and that she had been retconned, but not why. He was concerned their opinions of Suzie might be adversely affected by the knowledge of what she may have done. He wanted to Suzie to have a fresh start when she came back next week, even though he intended to keep a close eye on her.

Neither Tosh nor Gwen argued with him when he explained why Suzie wasn't there. They could both see how tired Ianto looked and realised that something major must have happened for him to take the actions he did. Owen wasn't in either, having been given permission to come in later after his late night call out.

A little later Tosh saw that the glove and knife were missing but didn't say anything. She had always felt uneasy around the glove, and didn't really like the fact that Suzie had been using it to bring dead animals back to life. Even if they only survived a couple of minutes, it still felt like they were playing with things they shouldn't. And they all knew what had happened to London when they played with things they shouldn't have.

Mid-morning Ianto left for his meeting with the committee. They were meeting him in a coffee shop nearby. Thoughts of his previous dealings with the committee ran through his head while he was waiting.

* * *

The committee had been formed in 1879, shortly after Queen Victoria had founded the Torchwood Institute in Scotland. Torchwood reported only to the crown, but as the Queen was unable to directly run the organisation and her duties as the head of the royal family often prevented her personal attendance, the committee was set up to run Torchwood on her behalf. The committee established the London branch to act as the main administrative centre, and as the rift in Cardiff became more and more active, they soon set up Torchwood 3.

After the fall of London, the committee decided to make Cardiff the main public focus of Torchwood. They had initially planted stories about the Canary Wharf building having been attacked by terrorists and the ghosts that had turned out to be Cybermen were to be dismissed as mass hoaxes. It was soon realised that whilst the terrorist story seemed to be generally believed, the mass hoax story was not. Too many people in too many places had died or had simply gone missing to cover the Cybermen up. Interestingly enough though, they had more success with covering up the Daleks' involvement. Maybe because their attack had mostly been centred on London and Canary Wharf, and there was less information to be re-written.

After the Battle of Canary Wharf Ianto had many meetings with the committee. They were supposedly there to take care of him and the 26 other survivors, but he never felt at ease with them. There seemed to be ulterior motives in everything they said or did, but he could never quite work out what they were.

Ianto never knew exactly how many people were on the committee and he often wondered if they even knew themselves. Whenever he had to meet with them, there were only one or two different people present. They always changed who attended the meetings, but there were one or two people who came more often than the others. Ianto didn't trust any of them.

When they first offered him the position at Cardiff, he was flattered they would consider him up to the task. But as he found out more about the job – and especially the contract with the alien that was apparently owned by Torchwood – the more he began to wonder if there was something else going on. They supplied him with limited files on Torchwood Cardiff and all the staff, but nothing on the alien.

Captain Jack Harkness was well known to the staff of London but Ianto hadn't known, until he was offered the Cardiff job, that Jack was actually an alien.

Ianto had even seen him one time when Jack had accompanied Alex Hopkins to a meeting with Yvonne Hartman. The meeting had left Yvonne in a foul mood for over a week. There had been a lot of gossip about what had left her in such a mood, but there was even more gossip surrounding Jack Harkness. Some people found him enormously arrogant, while others were equally adamant about how charming he was. His 'sexy' smile seemed to be the big winner. He had certainly left an impression on everyone who saw him.

Ianto had been sitting in the back of the staff kitchen when Alex and Jack had entered during a break in their meeting, and he saw for himself the blinding smile Jack had given to one of the tea ladies. She was an older lady who had the reputation of being able to reduce even the strongest man to tears with one well-placed glare. But to the amazement of everyone watching, Jack had her wrapped around his little finger almost instantly. As they left the room, someone snarkily commented on how poncy Jack looked waltzing about in such an old fashioned looking coat. Ianto disagreed – he thought the look suited him.

The committee gave Ianto a few days to decide whether or not to accept the role. A phone call from his sister tipped the scales in favour of returning to Cardiff. She was concerned how he was coping without Lisa, and if he was honest with himself, the thought of being near what was left of his family again was a surprisingly pleasant idea. Ianto let the committee know he would accept the job.

They arranged his move back to Cardiff and let him know they would meet with him on his second day on the job to complete the change in command and the sign over of Jack to Ianto. They had not signed Jack fully over to Suzie, knowing she was not permanently the director, and Ianto wondered what else they could possibly have to tell him about Jack.

* * *

Ianto looked up as two pairs of feet stopped at his table. When he saw exactly who had turned up for the meeting it took a lot of self-control not to let his displeasure show. Through all his meetings with the committee, he had found these two especially distasteful. These particular two had given him the creeps. They both wore cravats and "Vote Saxon" pins even though the election was months away, and the candidates hadn't even been officially announced yet. But questionable fashion aside, the fact was that the two of them simply made Ianto's skin crawl. Whether it was the way they looked down at everyone and everything, or the way their stares were so intense it seemed they were staring all the way through you, or the way their skin felt like cold fish when they shook your hand, Ianto didn't know why. He just knew he didn't like them.

As with all the committee members they had never said what their names were.

The first one spoke as they sat themselves down. "So how's the freak going?" The man could barely keep the sneer from his face as he spoke.

Ianto looked at them both. He knew what they meant, but wouldn't give them the satisfaction of acknowledging the derogatory word. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The freak," the second one said. "That disgusting freak of an alien masquerading as an army captain."

Ianto spoke carefully. "Jack is fine. Why wouldn't he be?"

"Keep an eye on it. You don't know what it is capable of," the first one replied.

"_He_ has been fine. He's been extremely helpful." Ianto replied, still being careful to keep his voice neutral.

The second one shook his head dismissively, reached down into his briefcase and brought out a folder. "This is the abomination's full file and contract. Make sure you read them thoroughly." He held the folder out to Ianto and as Ianto reached out a hand to take the folder the first man grabbed his wrist and held it tightly.

The second one smiled grimly and brought an instrument out of his pocket and painfully injected something into Ianto's arm.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ianto growled angrily. He knew now why they had insisted he sit in one of the booths; no one would have seen what they had just done. Ianto felt his arm shake in pain as whatever they had injected him with started spreading out. He clutched his arm to his chest and wondered if they had poisoned him.

"Settle down," one of them said. "We've injected you with a liquid tracking device for your pet alien. It integrates itself into your blood and attaches itself to your DNA, making it impossible to remove.

"If the freak gets away from where it should be, you will feel it. Let it get too far away and you will really feel the pain. I believe one previous director said that it felt as if his blood was boiling!

"So we recommend you keep tight control over the freak."

* * *

When Ianto got back to the Hub, Jack was the only one there, the girls having gone with Owen to get some lunch. In response to Jack's unspoken question, he told him the custody transfer had been completed.

Jack noticed that Ianto was holding his arm uncomfortably. He grabbed Ianto's hand, pulled back his sleeve to reveal the red mark where the formula had been injected, and nodded.

"So they've given you the injection then," he stated. He looked Ianto in the eye and smiled, trying to lighten the mood, knowing how much pain Ianto would be in. "So, does that mean I have to call you 'Sir' now?"

Ianto looked back at him and, recognising the distraction for what it was, decided to play along. "Why, Captain Harkness, are you flirting with me?" he asked.

They smiled at each other for a moment as Jack absently rubbed his thumb along the mark on Ianto's wrist. He took a breath. "Come with me."

He led Ianto into the office and took out a jar of cream from a cupboard near the hatchway leading to his bunker. "I've had lots of directors to get this right."

He rubbed the cream gently into Ianto's wrist and forearm. To Ianto's surprise, the pain disappeared quickly. They looked at each other again, and Jack felt a sudden urge to run his fingers through a lock of Ianto's hair that had fallen out of place. He let go of Ianto's hand and stepped back abruptly to put himself out of range.

"Jack, they said one of the directors said it felt as if his blood was boiling when this thing triggered," Ianto gestured at his arm. "Have you tried to escape from here?"

Jack looked at the floor. "I'm not going to do anything that will hurt you." He looked up again. "Ianto, up until now Suzie had been a good person, and you could have had her executed for what she was trying to do, but you didn't. And for that I will be forever grateful. I promise you I won't leave Torchwood without permission."

The cogwheel door alarm sounded and they saw the rest of the team walk in. Ianto nodded at Jack, "OK then."

They smiled at each other again and went down to join the rest of the team for lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 6  
**

**Extracts from case file "1899-CJH": **

**Subject Profile – Compiled by Guppy, Alice (Miss), Senior Field Operative:  
**_**Name: **__Harkness, Jack.  
**Designation: **__Captain (unconfirmed).  
**Species: **__Unknown – claims to be human but his unique "ability" clearly shows he is not of this planet and not fit to be called human.  
**Date of Birth: **__Late 51st century – unable to confirm exact date as impossible to convert to Earth time.  
**Age:**__ Unknown. Appears to be physically in his mid thirties, which was his estimated age when his ability first emerged – this was roughly thirty Earth years ago.  
**Place of Birth: **__Boeshane Peninsula (location unconfirmed).  
**Possessions:**__ A small number of items have been confiscated from the subject as they are of no obvious use to the Torchwood Institute and have been identified as objects that should be kept away from the subject. Refer Secure Container 1899-CJH-01._

**April 3rd 1899 – Log Entry filed by Holroyd, Emily (Miss), Director**:  
_I had a meeting today with the esteemed gentlemen from the committee. They gave me a file on someone known as Captain Jack Harkness. By all reports, he is a very disreputable character who frequents drinking dens and other such unsavoury establishments. We have been asked to observe him and bring him in for questioning, should he prove to be a person of interest._

**April 9th 1899** **– Log Entry filed by Holroyd, Emily (Miss), Director**:  
_What manner of creature is this Harkness fellow? Five times now he – should I even call him a 'he' – has died and come back to life. Harkness is a freak of nature, exactly as the committee described him. Miss Guppy and I need to be extremely careful how we proceed._

**April 16th 1899** **– Log Entry filed by Holroyd, Emily (Miss), Director**:  
_Thirteen times now the aberration has now died and come back to life since we have been observing him. We have now begun to work out the correlation between how he is killed and how soon he revives. I believe we have enough information for Miss Guppy and I to be able to safely collect him the next time he is killed. We shouldn't have to wait long, the way he is continually getting on the bad side of his fellow patrons._

**April 18th 1899** **– Log Entry filed by Holroyd, Emily (Miss), Director**:  
_As suspected, it did not take long for Harkness to fall foul of another drinking den patron, and we were easily able to subdue him and bring him back to the Institute. Once there one of the tests we performed on him was to give him a full power charge from the Electro Machine and afterwards he was still breathing! Miss Guppy shot him directly in the forehead and he still revived. All the time the arrogant man was conscious he was spouting sexual innuendos and other entirely inappropriate comments. He is a truly repugnant 'person'._

**June 4th 1899** **– Log Entry filed by Holroyd, Emily (Miss), Director**:  
_After many weeks, we are no closer to finding out anything useful about Harkness' immortality. I think it is time we found another use for him. I will consult with the committee on how they wish to approach employing Harkness, for the benefit of the Institute._

**June 8th 1899** **– Log Entry filed by Holroyd, Emily (Miss), Director**:  
_The committee has provided a contract to ensure Harkness will remain at the Torchwood Institute for what I suppose for Harkness would be eternity. After his first mission for us, he thought he was going to walk away from us – apparently he took exception to Miss Guppy's excellent and most efficient solution to the Blowfish case. We have given him until morning to think about his position, but the committee assure me he will not be a problem. They are sending someone to meet with him at his preferred drinking den to ensure he makes the right decision._

**June 9th 1899** **– Log Entry filed by Holroyd, Emily (Miss), Director**:  
_Harkness turned up stinking of his beloved drinking den and advised me he would accept the contract in return for no longer being subjected to our testing. Our spies have reported that a young girl was seen at his table last night. I believe she was the one sent by the committee to convince him to accept our contract. What hold a young girl would hold over Harkness I hate to think, but at least now we have someone to take on all our dangerous missions. I am grateful Miss Guppy, oh and Mr Gaskell as well, I suppose, will no longer need to put themselves in so much danger._

* * *

Ianto slammed the file shut. He had skipped through the entries detailing the 'tests' Holroyd and Guppy had performed on Jack – he had read them once before and had no desire to sit through them again – but he was still curious about why Jack had signed the contract. Ianto knew there was no point questioning the committee on why they had condoned the treatment of Jack; their attitude towards him at the meeting earlier that day had left no doubts what they thought. Reading between the lines, Ianto was pretty sure that the way Jack had been treated by the Torchwood staff was actually because of the committee's attitude towards him in the first place.

I'll need to make use of a lot of their 'drinking dens' to get through this file, he thought.

Walking out of his office, he saw that only Toshiko was in the main area of the Hub. He went down and stood beside her.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Owen's down in the morgue cleaning up, Gwen's gone out to see Andy and Jack's downstairs somewhere working in the Archives," she looked up at him and smiled.

"Cool. What are you up to?"

"Just working on a rift predictor programme."

Ianto nodded and looked towards the doorway to the lower levels. "Do you know how long Jack will be down there?"

"Hard to tell," Tosh replied. "Depends on how much he wants to get done. If he gets on a roll, he could be down there for hours."

Ianto nodded again and then went and made them both a coffee before disappearing back into his office, this time closing the door behind him. He walked over to the Secure Archives and retrieved secure container 1899-CJH-01.

Opening it up he started taking out everything that was in there. He opened up a leather wallet that held a piece of psychic paper. Psychic paper was one of the things all Torchwood One employees were taught to deal with, as part of their psychic training. Some of the young operatives struggled to be able to tell it apart from normal paper, but luckily, Ianto had no troubles with it. He wasn't sure why he scored so well on the psychic tests, but he was extremely grateful he had. It made life much easier at London to have an ability that not many others had.

Putting the wallet down he took out the next item, Jack's Compact Laser Deluxe. Ianto chuckled to himself as he recalled the disgust that showed through in Emily Holroyd's report when she documented where Jack had been hiding that one.

Next he pulled out the Sonic Blaster which he placed on the table next to the laser deluxe, and finally he pulled out the item he was most interested in, the Vortex Manipulator. It was the only one of his belongings Jack had physically fought against them taking away from him.

As well as resisting them taking the manipulator away from them, it was also the only item he had refused to tell them about. None of the directors had ever been able to get him to talk about it, not even the ones who actually seemed to treat him decently could convince him to reveal its secrets.

Ianto flipped open the cover and had a look at the device within. The child within him wanted to start pressing buttons to find out what they would do, but the adult Ianto knew better so he closed the cover back and put everything back into the container. He heard Jack talking to Tosh so Ianto hurriedly locked the container back away and went out to see if anything interesting was happening.

* * *

The next couple of days were relatively quiet, compared to Ianto's first day. There were a number of rift alerts, but nothing major. Most alerts only required Jack, Owen and Gwen to be present, with Tosh staying behind to co-ordinate. Ianto would stay with her to learn how everything worked. Ianto was not trained for the field, as was the custom for Torchwood One management, so he learned the systems so that he would be able to co-ordinate for them for the alerts where Tosh would be required to join them.

With Suzie still on leave, Ianto had named Jack to be in charge of all field trips, acknowledging Jack's superior knowledge of aliens. Neither Owen nor Tosh disagreed with that decision, and Gwen had not been there long enough to even be considered.

As the week passed, Ianto had his promised meetings with Owen, Tosh and Gwen to get to know them and their jobs better. The meeting with Jack was left for after he had finished reading through his files and contract thoroughly.

He continued making the coffee for the team at regular intervals, he may have been the boss but no one was going to complain about that point. He joined the team in the boardroom for their shared lunches, and a couple of times he took them out for drinks after work. The five of them bonded quite nicely.

Jack's flirtatious nature could sometimes be overwhelming, and he seemed to be on a mission to make Ianto blush as often as he could. Ianto, luckily, had so far been able to maintain his professional exterior, and had proven to be able handle Jack's comments and mannerisms quite admirably. Owen proved to be as snarky as his reputation suggested, but underneath it all was a sharp-witted and highly intelligent man. Toshiko was simply brilliant; she would have done well at London, if her circumstances had been different. Gwen, being the newest recruit to Torchwood, still had a somewhat innocent and naïve approach to life.

It amused Ianto to see that Gwen seemed to be developing a bit of a crush on Jack; he doubted she had come across someone quite like Jack before. For his part, Jack seemed to be totally oblivious of her attraction to him. Jack clearly had a soft spot for Toshiko; he was after all the one who had arranged for her to be removed from UNIT custody. Tosh, in turn, was quite fond of Owen, and they quite often socialised with each other after work. Ianto was yet to work out how Owen felt about Tosh. He had heard from Jack that there had been something between Suzie and Owen, but that was quite firmly in the past.

As the end of the week approached, there were some comments made about Suzie returning, and Ianto felt mildly uneasy. The team were getting along so well, he didn't know how Suzie's return would affect the team dynamics.

There were no rift alerts on Friday afternoon, and after Gwen had made a comment about how her boyfriend Rhys had been hassling her for a night out Ianto decided to let them all go early.

A few hours later Owen and Tosh were at a quiz night in a pub near the Plass, and winning quite comfortably. Gwen and Rhys had taken advantage of the fine weather and were at an outdoor restaurant enjoying dinner together after having gone bowling and to a movie.

Ianto and Jack had ordered pizza and ate together in the boardroom and were walking back through the Hub when various alarms started going off. They ran over to one of the workstations to see what was happening. Reports of a meteorite streaking over Cardiff had started coming in, but then when the reports started saying it had changed course they both knew it was more than that.

Gwen and Rhys had just finished their dinner when Rhys looked up to see what he thought was a plane on fire. As they watched, the fireball changed course and Gwen instantly knew it wasn't a plane. They started running down the street to see better, just two of the many people who left the restaurant without paying the bill. The fireball crashed into the hillside, with a loud bang that was both heard and felt throughout the entire city.

Gwen scrabbled through her bag as she heard her phone go off. Unlocking the screen, she saw the simple message that just said 'Torchwood'. She looked at Rhys excitedly.

"I've got to go to work!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Apologies for the lateness - babysitting a hyperactive, slightly autistic, 5 year old boy with ADHD doesn't do much for your concentration...

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 7  
**

Ianto looked on in wry amusement as his team filed back into the Hub.

He had sent them out in search of the supposed meteorite, wanting to make sure that that was all it was. Things hadn't gone quite how he had hoped: the army and police had arrived at the crash site before Torchwood leading to yet another round of cross-agency rivalry, and then when the team actually did get through to the meteor, a moment of carelessness from Gwen caused an unknown gaseous creature to escape from within the rock. And judging from the jibes and apologies Ianto had heard in the background over the comms Owen certainly wasn't being backwards in letting Gwen know his feelings on the matter.

It was immediately clear to Ianto as they walked in that the squabbling he had heard when Jack called through was still happening. The four of them marched straight down to Autopsy, taking no notice of Ianto, with Gwen apologising so many times that Jack finally had heard enough.

"Seriously, stop saying that!"

Rather that quietening her down, all that did was start Gwen off on another round of apologies. "But I am! I mean, really, I mean really, really sorry. God, I can't believe it."

"Didn't they teach you Health and Safety in the police?" The tone of Owen's voice made her feel even worse.

"You two chucked tools at each other, so I..." her voice trailed off as Owen glared at her.

"We didn't miss!"

"I'll sort it. Whatever's happened, I'll deal with it."

Tosh and Owen continued past her and put the equipment and samples they were carrying down on the table.

Gwen looked earnestly at them both. "What do you think has happened? I mean, it was just gas, wasn't it? That can't be too bad, can it?"

"Right, because gas never did anyone any harm!" Owen shook his head in exasperation.

Ianto thought it best to interrupt them before the situation got too out of hand. He moved to the top of the stairs and staged a cough. Everyone stopped and looked up at him in relief.

"This might help," he read some details off a clipboard. "Nightclub death, been phoned in to 999. Circumstances sound... a little unusual."

Ianto looked at Gwen as she rushed up the stairs and practically ripped the clipboard from his hands in her haste to get away from the others.

"Might be connected."

* * *

Ianto sent Jack, Owen, Tosh and Gwen off to the nightclub to investigate. They were all shocked by what had occurred there. After they found out everything useful the nightclub owner knew Jack took a copy of the CCTV footage from both inside the nightclub and from the alleyway beside the nightclub. Then they returned to the Hub to give Ianto an update of what they had found. Ianto had made them a coffee each and was handing them out as they ran the CCTV footage through the Torchwood identification software. Jack smiled in thanks as he took his cup from Ianto.

"He just came and went," Jack couldn't wait to repeat his line from earlier to Ianto, earning himself a now-familiar eye roll from the director.

Gwen meanwhile was not faring so well. Her emotions had spent the day zigzagging back and forth. From initially feeling sorry and embarrassed about her rookie-like mistake, to feeling depressed and guilty knowing she was ultimately responsible for the death of the young lad in the nightclub, to an overwhelming over-eagerness to do absolutely anything she could to get the case resolved, she had certainly felt it all.

Ianto saw the effect it was having on her and decided to call her into his office to talk to her. As relieved as she was to get away from Owen for a bit, she felt a bit apprehensive about what Ianto would have to say. This was her first major case since Ianto had started with Torchwood 3, and it had gone so terribly wrong for her. Ianto stood at the door of his office watching the remaining three. With Gwen gone Owen had stopped his snarky comments and they had all settled down to seriously tracking down the mysterious woman from the alleyway. He shut the door and turned back to Gwen.

"So what happened out there?" Ianto sat down behind his desk.

Gwen stared down nervously at her fingers, and shrugged. "I don't know. I screwed up, I guess."

Ianto smiled gently at her. "You made a mistake, that's all." Ianto raised a hand as he saw Gwen was about to interrupt. "That's all it was, a simple mistake. A tragic mistake granted, but next time you'll know better. And remember; don't try too hard. You don't have to impress anyone to fit in here. Just be yourself, and let it come naturally."

Ianto stood up and walked around to Gwen's side of the desk. Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder he continued on. "From what I've heard and seen you've done very well since being here, don't let this one thing get you down."

Gwen finally looked up from her inspection of her fingers and smiled weakly. "Thanks Ianto," she said gratefully. She was about to say more when a shout from Jack caused them to get up and rejoin the team.

"We've found her!"

* * *

After sending the rest of the team back out again, this time to hunt for the young girl from the CCTV footage, Ianto took the opportunity to take a closer look at Jack's Vortex Manipulator. Since looking at it the previous night he had been thinking of ways he could find out more about it. Given Jack's reluctance to talk about what it was for in the past, he didn't hold much hope of Jack opening up to him.

Taking out a scanner he had brought back with him from London, Ianto was able to work out that parts of the device had broken down. He wasn't able to tell what the parts actually did however, which meant it wouldn't be easy for him to work out how to fix it. It was a bit hard to put something right when he didn't actually know what 'right' really was. He took some more scans of the manipulator and put all of the results onto a thumb drive to study in more detail later.

Putting the thumb drive away in his suit pocket, Ianto sat down and looked at the cover of Jack's file. Reaching a hand out he decided to read through the contract instead. It was time to find out the full extent of his 'ownership' of a certain Captain Jack Harkness.

* * *

Carys Fletcher entered the Hub timidly. She looked round nervously, and looked so flighty that she might have bolted the first chance she got, and if it wasn't for Gwen holding on to her upper arm, she probably would have tried to run right then. Jack instructed Gwen to take her down to the cells and find out what she could.

Owen and Tosh went to find out what they could from the scans made at the crash site and to set up scans on the cell that Carys was in. That left Jack to arrange something for their lunch. He decided on Chinese.

Gwen entered the boardroom rather sheepishly a short while later, where the others were setting up for lunch. She desperately hoped none of them had seen the footage of her snogging Carys. She'd had enough teasing from Owen Harper for one day. The others looked up at her briefly before resuming their conversation. She sat down, recognising immediately what case it was they were talking about, and was very relieved she appeared to have gotten away with it.

They shared a few of the more humorous cases Torchwood 3 had come across with Ianto, up until during a lull in the conversation when they could hear the faint sound of crying. Gwen asked what the noise was so Owen turned the monitor on and they could all see Carys crying on her hands and knees down in her cell.

Gwen immediately felt all of her guilt returning. "What are we doing having Chinese while a girl fights for her life?"

Ianto saw she was getting upset again, and spoke quietly. "Gwen, why don't you put together one of your character profiles on Carys. It will help us understand her so we can hopefully give her a reason to keep fighting and remind her to hold on to who she is."

Gwen nodded and left straight away, grateful to have something constructive to do. Owen took some of the leftover food down to Carys. Ianto and Jack remained in the boardroom.

Tosh went back to her desk to view the results of the data analysis and when she realised the effect the alien creature was having on Carys' body she called everyone over the comms. Everyone but Owen came over to hear what she had to say.

"This is the normal chemical composition of the air in that cell. And these are the readings from the last hour. The alien's secreting an ultra-powerful blend of airborne pheromones."

They all stared at her.

She obviously needed to clarify it for them. "Sex pheromones. A thousand times more potent than anything we'd normally experience."

Jack's eyes widened. "She's a walking aphrodisiac!"

They all looked at each other. "Owen!"

Gwen and Tosh took off down to the cells – they thought it best for Ianto and Jack to stay there – to find Owen handcuffed and stripped naked with Carys nowhere to be found. A search on the Hub's internal CCTV showed that Carys had used Owen's swipe card to escape the Hub. Neither Gwen nor Tosh could keep a straight face as Owen explained what happened. Gwen even considered whether she could use the footage of Owen for blackmail material at a later date.

Back up in the main area of the Hub they reviewed the profile Gwen had gathered, trying to find any clues as to where Carys might have gone. Tosh made a likely suggestion, so they all piled into the SUV, leaving Ianto behind to co-ordinate once again.

After a dash around town to various places Carys could have been, they eventually ended up in Conway Clinic. It was a fertility clinic that Carys was currently temping for – it was also a perfect source for the orgasmic energy the alien creature craved, without it having to worry actually finding the willing young males. Carys was there, but unfortunately she had already killed five more men before they arrived.

Owen found Carys trying to escape the clinic and called the others to him. Seeing that Carys was growing steadily weaker, Gwen offered herself to the alien as a replacement host. Tosh wasn't sure this was the wisest choice but Jack had secretly brought an inflatable cell from the Hub and managed to catch the alien as it attempted to pass from Carys' to Gwen's body. The cell only had a limited battery life but luckily, it lasted just long enough for the alien to die. It ended up as a pile of dust on the floor.

Carys had lost consciousness as the alien left her so Jack carried her out to the SUV. On their way back to Carys' house, she woke up but was unable to remember anything that had happened. Ianto called ahead to her father to let him know that Torchwood would be bringing her home. He didn't tell him anything about the deaths but instead just told him she had been found at the scene of a crime.

It was a much more subdued team that returned to the Hub this time. All of Owen's snarkiness had disappeared and both Gwen and Tosh were unusually quiet. Jack was still Jack, but even he was more restrained.

Ianto monitored Carys over the next couple of months and was glad to see there nothing to indicate she had ever regained any memories of the alien possession. He was even able to pull some strings to get her a permanent job which paid her enough to be able to get a flat of her own. The self-confidence she gained from her improved status led her to meeting a decent man, and they got married eight months later.

* * *

The others had gone home, and Ianto was sitting at his desk finishing off the paperwork for the Fletcher case when Jack came in. Ianto had assumed he was just passing through on his way to the bunker under his office so he was surprised when Jack stopped and sat down at his desk. Ianto looked at him curiously.

"Ianto," he began. Jack took hold of Ianto's arm and looked pensively at the fading mark on his wrist. "I need to tell you about Flat Holm Island."


	8. Chapter 8

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 8**

As the boat chugged along the Bristol Channel, headed back towards Cardiff, it could have been any normal Sunday afternoon boat ride. Just two friends who had spent a relaxing, sunny day out on one of the islands. Maybe they'd enjoyed a picnic in one of the many grassed areas available. Or maybe they'd climbed up to the top of the lighthouse to enjoy the scenic views of the bay. Absolutely normal.

Instead though, the captain of the 'Sea Princess' was transporting an immortal alien from the 51st century and the director of a company set up to catch aliens back from an apparently deserted island that housed a secret refuge for the hideously damaged returned victims of a rift in time and space. Maybe not so normal then.

Jack watched Ianto as he leant against the railings, staring down at the water, lost in thought. Ianto hadn't spoken to him since they had left Flat Holm Island, and it was starting to worry him. Jack looked towards the horizon and saw dark storm clouds gathering in the distance. Exactly how would Ianto respond to what he had been told and had seen on the island?

* * *

The day that Alex Hopkins killed himself and the other Torchwood operatives, Jack was left alone. Alone, for the first time, in over 100 years. As what had happened started to sink in, Jack prepared all the bodies for preservation, in accordance to Torchwood regulations, and put them away in the morgue. After he closed the final drawer, he stood there, lost, not knowing what to do next.

With one final glance at Alex's compartment, he eventually wandered off. He didn't go anywhere in particular; he just walked. Walked through random corridors and down through the various levels of the Hub. Despite having been with Torchwood for so very long he hadn't actually been in every room of the Hub. Some areas were classified as out of bounds to the alien, some areas he just wasn't comfortable with being in and some areas were that old and run down they weren't considered safe for anyone to enter at all.

That night though, he just needed to go somewhere, anywhere, that didn't hold any memories for him. Memories of one of the only Torchwood teams he had ever actually considered to be friends. He ended up near the vaults in one of the lowest levels of the Hub. Jack stopped to try and get his bearings – he hadn't really taken much notice of where he was walking – when he was startled by strange sounds coming from one of the vaults. On entering the passageway in front of the vaults, he was appalled to see two horrifyingly disfigured people locked away.

Jack looked around in the rooms nearby to see if there were any clues to who these people were, or how they got there, but he couldn't find anything. The only useful thing he found was an enormous stash of non-perishable food and drink. Not wanting to take his chances with the two unknown people, he decided it would be best to leave them there for now and get back up to the main area of the Hub to see if he could find anything in Alex's personal files. Jack spent a further half hour down in the vaults, trying to talk to them both, but while they were both clearly listening to what he was saying, neither of them uttered a word.

Logging on to a terminal, he discovered that Alex had sent him an email not long before Jack got back to the Hub. He must have sent it immediately before he shot the rest of the team.

The email started off by apologising for not being able to save Jack, echoing what Alex would say to Jack directly, just before his suicide. He went on to explain about the negative rift spikes, and how the rift would sometimes take people or objects instead of just depositing stuff here in Cardiff from other times and places. He also explained that even more rarely, the rift would sometimes bring these people back.

When these people came back, they were never the same as they were when they were taken. The differences weren't just physical, but were also mental and emotional. Alex had found four people that the rift had returned while he was in charge of Torchwood, but only the two in the vaults were left. One had died not long after coming back through the rift. Kelly Webber had been sent on a seemingly endless number of jumps through the rift and she was simply too fragile to survive the effects of being flung through time and space over and over again. The other death was a relatively natural death – by the time the rift deposited Matthew Evans back in Cardiff he was in his late eighties and he died peacefully in his sleep one night.

The names of the two people in the vaults had never been worked out. They had no identification with them and as neither of them spoke, they couldn't tell him anything. He had even run DNA tests, but got no matches. And while the two had come back together, he didn't even know if they had been taken together.

Alex had no idea why these people had been taken or why they had been brought back. He put them down in the vaults where no one else would find them. He hadn't meant to neglect them as much as he had, but he simply couldn't risk anyone finding out about them. He had no doubts that anything the committee would do with them would not be pleasant for them. He didn't want UNIT to get their hands on them either, knowing that they were more likely to experiment on them rather than try to help them.

After he finished reading the email Jack barely had time to delete the email from his Inbox, and to log into Alex's account to remove it from his own mailbox before the cogwheel door alarms sounded. The committee, alerted by the deactivation of the tracker in Alex's arm, had arrived to find out what had happened. Jack turned around to see that the two with cravats were standing by the door; complete with their typical looks of distaste that they seemed to wear whenever they were around Jack.

Knowing he would be carefully watched to begin with, Jack was unable to immediately do anything about the two in the vaults. He could occasionally sneak away to make sure they were fed and was able to stop anyone from going down there, but that was about the limit of what he could do. This did give him time to think though, and to work out how he would actually deal with them.

Like Alex, there was no way he wanted UNIT anywhere near them, and he certainly didn't want the committee to get their hands on them either. One of the advantages of living where he worked meant that Jack didn't have many expenses and, with over 100 years of Torchwood pay, he had quite a bit of money saved up. He was able to get the facility at Flat Holm Island set up; it wasn't anything fancy but he did the best he could. He hired the minimum of staff, telling them that their patients were experiments that had gone wrong and they needed to be kept safe from anyone who would mistreat them. None of the staff questioned him too hard – they were all caring people and saw that the best thing to do was just to look after them, rather than question Jack too much.

After the committee put Suzie in temporary charge of Torchwood, the committee goons left the Hub and Jack had a bit more freedom. With Suzie concentrating on other things, he was able to transfer the two over to Flat Holm Island.

Unfortunately though, recently the rift had been returning more and more people. Jack had to hire more people and extend the facilities. There were currently fourteen patients at the facility. This was starting to put a strain on Jack's finances and if too many more people were returned, he wasn't sure how he would be able to continue to support them. Suzie wasn't too interested in the Hub's finances and happily agreed to Jack's suggestion that he look after them for her. This meant he could supplement his contributions a little, but he had to make sure he didn't siphon off that much money that someone would become suspicious of what he was doing.

Once a month Jack would go over to Flat Holm to check up how everything was going and to see if there was anything he needed to do for them. He was due to go again, but he knew the tracker injected into Ianto would be set off if he travelled that far away from the Hub and Ianto. He had promised Ianto that he wouldn't deliberately do anything to hurt Ianto back on Ianto's first day at Torchwood 3, so he knew he had to persuade Ianto to come to Flat Holm with him. That would mean telling Ianto everything he knew, and about what he had done.

After he had finished telling Ianto about it the previous night, he wasn't sure how Ianto had taken it. Ianto had looked at him steadily for a few minutes before asking him when he planned on going out there next. They decided to go the next day – Sunday was officially the director's day off so he could legitimately be away from the Hub for the day, without it raising any suspicions.

Jack met Ianto at the dock the next morning and they sailed over to the island. Jack pointed out where the main facilities were as they walked along the short jetty and down the paths to the main building. Ianto was introduced to all the staff, and some of the more lucid patients. He was his customary polite, attentive self and quickly won over Helen and the other staff. Ianto had kept his usual business-like mask on the entire time they were at the facility and Jack had been completely unable to gauge his mood or to judge his reactions to what he had seen.

After saying goodbye to the facility's staff, Ianto and Jack walked back to where the boat was waiting for them. Ianto didn't say a word to Jack for the entire walk back and maintained his silence on the boat. The longer he was silent, the more worried Jack became.

Jack continued watching Ianto; he was clearly thinking things through. Jack watched as the wind whipped at Ianto's clothing, and unconsciously found himself admiring the view as Ianto's jacket was plastered against his body, outlining the slender yet strong looking body. Jack chastised himself mentally. There was no telling what Ianto would do; whether he would support Jack with Flat Holm or if he would can the whole thing altogether or worse still, tell the committee. It certainly wasn't the time or place for him to be distracted by an attractive man.

He realised suddenly that Ianto had finally turned around and his calm blue eyes were regarding him steadily once again. The boat began docking just at that moment and Ianto disappeared inside the cabin, ready to go ashore. Once back on land Ianto thanked the boat captain and headed off towards the SUV, with Jack trailing close behind. Ianto looked at his watch and saw it was late in the afternoon.

"Jack," he began. "I'm going to go home now."

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Ianto carried on.

"I have a lot to think about, what with this and Suzie coming back tomorrow. I need to think this through properly. I don't want to make any rash decisions here. I'll let you know what I decided tomorrow when I get in."

Jack was disappointed, but he was relieved, to an extent. Ianto hadn't immediately come out and said to close it down, so that gave Jack a small ray of hope that Ianto might actually support him and not put a stop to it. He watched as Ianto walked off as he headed home. Jack drove the SUV back to the Hub. It would be a long night for him, wondering exactly what Ianto would do.


	9. Chapter 9

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 9**_**  
**_

_The big run down house on Kipling Lane was the stuff of legends. Some people said it was haunted; some said terrible things had happened there; some said it should be condemned and pulled down. And just about every set of parents had banned their kids from ever going there, worried about the dangers of going into such a damaged building._

_That of course meant every kid wanted to go there, and many a schoolyard bet had been placed on who was brave enough to actually go there. Or in the utmost of all braveries, to actually spend an entire night there. The Jones kids were no exception. Rhiannon and Ethan were old enough to go to school and they had heard all the rumours about what had happened in the past when other kids had supposedly gone to the house. The two of them took great delight in scaring their younger brother with their greatly exaggerated tales of the house. Ianto had always had a vivid imagination and it didn't take much to scare him._

_One boring Saturday afternoon Ethan decided he was going to take the challenge and enter the house on his own. He was a couple of blocks away from the house when he heard soft footsteps behind him; stopping suddenly, he grimaced in annoyance._

"_Go away Ianto!" He didn't even need to turn around to know his annoying little brother was following him. Again. "You know you're not allowed to leave the house."_

_Ianto pouted. "How'd you know it was me?"_

"_Of course it's you. It's always bloody you! Just go away and leave me alone!" And with that, Ethan took off running and disappeared around the corner._

_Ianto ran after him, as fast as his little legs would take him. His brother easily pulled ahead of him though and soon all Ianto could hear was the thud, thud, thud of his feet on the footpath as he ran._

_When Ianto got to the run down house he stopped. Ethan hadn't said where he was going, but surely, this was it. He'd talked about going often enough. Ianto pushed his way through a gap in the fencing and made his way to the house. The front door was locked so he walked around the house and found an open window he could squeeze through._

_Looking for Ethan distracted him for the first couple of rooms, but then when he heard a noise coming from upstairs, he suddenly remembered exactly where he was. All the scary stories from Rhiannon and Ethan came flooding back and he froze in fear, suddenly aware of being on his own. The noise came again, this time followed by a groan. Ethan! Running blindly up the stairs, he stopped dead at the sight of some multicoloured lights hovering behind a pale looking Ethan._

"_Ianto, get out of here," Ethan practically screamed at Ianto._

_As Ianto stared up, entranced by the pretty lights swirling around, he didn't see that Ethan had already been partially swallowed up by the lights and was unable to move._

"_Go Ianto! Run! Get out of here!" Ethan screamed out again, desperate for his brother to get away before whatever was happening to him happened to Ianto as well. He had seen terrible things on the other side of the light and he was petrified._

_But Ianto was only four years old and he was unable to distinguish between when his brother simply trying to get rid of a pesky younger sibling, as Ethan so often was, and the fact that for this one particular time, he really did need to just… run. And when those pretty lights looked so inviting, he really didn't want to leave._

_He reached a tentative hand up towards the lights, but with one final terrified scream from Ethan, both his brother and the lights disappeared forever._

* * *

Ianto woke up with a loud gasp and scrabbled madly to switch a light on, trying to free himself from the darkness. This was the second night in a row he had dreamt of the day Ethan disappeared – ever since Jack had told him of Flat Holm Island.

No one had ever discovered what had happened to Ethan, not the police, or the other detectives that had come poking around. When he first started working for Torchwood, Ianto searched through the police files on his brother himself, but couldn't find any faults or gaps in their investigations. Living in Newport as a child, he had never even considered the rift as a possible answer, considering it to be a Cardiff-only issue. But after having seen some of the footage Jack had shown him, he began to wonder.

Ianto raised a hand to his cheek and rubbed it absently.

When Ianto had returned home and tried to explain what happened to Ethan, their father had slapped Ianto so hard on the cheek that Ianto lost his balance and fell over. Picking himself up off the floor, it occurred to him then, for the first time, that his punishments were always more harsher and painful than either of Rhiannon's or Ethan's. He wondered why.

Ethan's disappearance had marked a clear turning point in Ianto's relationship with his parents. His father had always been distant with Ianto, preferring the more outgoing and gregarious Rhiannon and Ethan. Ianto was far too dreamy and insipid for Maddoc Jones' liking. Maddoc firmly blamed Ianto for whatever had happened to his older son, and distance started turning into all out rage.

His mother, Evangelina, was understandably devastated at the loss of her oldest son. As she had spent all of her married life quite firmly in the thrall of Maddoc, she believed him unequivocally about Ianto's guilt in the matter. Always an insecure and volatile person to begin with, the loss of Ethan escalated her downswing into what Ianto would later come to call madness.

Ianto rolled over and instinctively started reaching out an arm to wrap around Lisa, as he so often did after a nightmare, only to find the other side of the bed empty. He was still alone. He rolled back onto his back and sighed wearily; six months later and he still woke up expecting Lisa to be there. He stared blankly at the ceiling for a few minutes before deciding to get up.

Wandering into the kitchen he saw the Torchwood folder Jack had given him on the way to Flat Holm Island. It outlined the measures Jack had put into place to get the facility up and running. Ianto had read through the folder when he got home from the island, and had then decided to log on to the Torchwood remote servers to do some checking of his own.

Ianto had looked through all the financial records and had found something unusual when looking through the personnel records. He couldn't follow it up further from home; the security encryption layers were too deep to access the files remotely. After sitting in the kitchen for a while Ianto decided he would go back to the Hub. He knew himself well enough – he wasn't likely to go back to sleep after that nightmare, so he figured he may as well do something useful.

Ianto entered the Hub through the garage entrance, not wanting the cogwheel door alarms to wake up Jack. He sat down quietly at his desk and turned only the table lamp on, hoping that it wouldn't send too much light down into the bunker. Logging onto his computer he was soon working his way through the files he had been looking at earlier in the night.

* * *

A while later Jack found himself lying awake in his bed. As he lay there he had just realised a light was on up in Ianto's office when he heard the muttering sound that had apparently woken him up in the first place. He frowned, not expecting anyone to be in the office this early. He looked at his watch and found it was 4:00 in the morning. He was surprised: Ianto had been quite firm about going home after they got back from Flat Holm Island, and not coming back in until the morning.

Climbing up the ladder, he saw Ianto at his desk slumped over some files. He had obviously come back to the office and fallen asleep while working. Jack stood there watching him for a moment, trying to decide whether to wake him or not.

The muttering began again and Jack soon realised it was Ianto dreaming that had woken him. As he listened though, Ianto's voice became more and more distressed. It became apparent that this wasn't just a dream, but was in fact a nightmare. Shaking Ianto's shoulder gently and trying not to scare him, Jack attempted to wake him up.

"Ethan?" Ianto mumbled sleepily.

"No, it's Jack. You're at work, you must've dozed off for a bit."

Ianto sat up and looked blearily around the office. He looked at the clock on the wall and yawned. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

Jack shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Why are you even here? It's the middle of the night."

"I woke up and then I couldn't get back to sleep. Guess looking at all these files did the trick though." Ianto gestured at the files on the desk and then stood up. "I should go."

Jack shook his head, "No, you're not walking home like that, half asleep like you are. Let me give you a lift."

"No, it's OK. You don't need to do that. I shouldn't be keeping you up." Jack was responsible for monitoring the rift alerts overnight, so he should really be sleeping while he had the chance.

Jack shook his head again. "It's not a problem. I don't sleep much anyway."

Ianto hesitated, clearly not wanting to go.

"Why don't you come down and sleep in the bunker instead then? It _is_ technically your room anyway."

Ianto remembered reading through that part of the Torchwood files. The bunker area Jack was using as his private quarters was actually designed for the personal use of the current director. It was intended to give them somewhere they could relax when going home was out of the question. The 'alien' was only supposed to use the area when the director had no need for it. Or if the director was making use of the "You are to serve the Director's every need" clause of Jack's contract.

Ianto looked towards the hatchway in the floor. He hadn't been in that part of the Hub yet, and curiosity was getting the better of him. "Where would you sleep though?"

Jack grinned. "There's enough room for two, if we get close enough." Jack's grin widened even more at the look on Ianto's face. "No? Pity! Seriously though, you have the bed. I'll stay up here – there's plenty of things I could be doing."

Ianto hesitated a bit longer. When he had come back into the Hub he truly thought he wouldn't get back to sleep again that night, but then he had fallen asleep at his desk. Stifling another yawn, he decided he would stay after all. Jack climbed back down into the bunker, motioning to Ianto to follow him down. He offered Ianto a clean pair of pyjamas, thinking they would be more comfortable than the jeans Ianto was wearing and then disappeared back up to the Hub to give Ianto some privacy as he got changed.

Ianto looked around the bunker curiously, and then hearing Jack moving around upstairs, he lay down in the bed not wanting to look like he was snooping. The bed was quite comfortable for its size. As he curled up under the covers, the distinctive smell of Jack's aftershave surrounded him. He found it surprisingly comforting and he soon fell asleep.

* * *

Ianto woke up a few hours later, feeling remarkably refreshed, to the smell of a hot, freshly cooked breakfast. He looked over to see Jack sitting at a small table eating noisily. Noticing Ianto was awake, Jack pointed to the extra serving sitting there.

"Help yourself," he said in between mouthfuls.

Ianto reluctantly dragged himself away from the warmth of the bed and sat beside Jack.

"Sleep well?" Jack asked him.

"Not too bad," Ianto nodded. He picked at the food in front of him. He didn't usually eat much in the mornings, normally just a coffee and some toast if he had time, but he didn't want to seem rude. He knew Jack was still waiting for an answer from him about Flat Holm Island, and he didn't want to keep him waiting too much longer.

"Excuse me," he mumbled and headed up the ladder, leaving Jack staring after him. Reappearing a few minutes later, he had a laptop with him and the files from last night, including the one supplied by Jack.

"So," Ianto began. "When's the last time you had a pay rise?"

Jack looked at him, puzzled. He shook his head in confusion. "Don't think I ever have. Other than on Decimal Day, I think I may have got some extra then."

Ianto nodded knowingly. "I thought that might be the case." Ianto turned the laptop around to show Jack what he had discovered the previous night. Jack's eyes widened when he realised what he was looking at.

"How did you find that?" he asked in surprise.

"It's amazing what a having a higher access level will let you find!"

What Ianto had found was that Jack actually had received a number of pay rises, dating back as far as Emily Holroyd's time. However, Holroyd had kept this secret from him, despite still claiming the extra wages from head office. Instead of handing the money over to Jack, it had been placed in a separate bank account for the use of the director.

Subsequent directors had clearly kept adding to the account, judging by the regular deposits in the account. While there had also been money withdrawn from the account from time to time, there was still a substantial balance in the account. Over one hundred years worth of back pay with compounded interest added up to a quite nice sum.

"So, unless you want the money for yourself, I think we may have a new use for this account. What do you think?" Ianto asked.

Jack was speechless. He hadn't seriously believed that Ianto would pull the plug on Flat Holm Island, but the fact that he had also managed to solve the current financial issues of the facility so thoroughly and so quickly was simply astonishing. He felt a sense of relief wash over him for the first time since he had first told Ianto about the island.

Jack stood up and impulsively drew Ianto into a hug. Ianto froze slightly, taken aback by the sudden physical contact, but he slowly managed to relax into the hug. The last time anyone had held him this closely was at Lisa's funeral. To his surprise, he found he quite enjoyed the feel of Jack's arms around him and he cautiously returned the embrace.

When Jack stepped away, Ianto spoke again. "I need you to trust me Jack. I'm here to do what's right for Torchwood. And if you let me, what's right for you. I've never really been a company man, or as the case may be around here, a committee man. If there's anything else I need to know about what's happening here, you need to tell me." He stopped and looked at Jack meaningfully. "I need to be able to trust you as well."

Jack nodded, a lump forming in his throat. He wanted to tell Ianto everything, he really did. He was slowly beginning to realise that Ianto was not a threat to him – his handling of both Suzie and Flat Holm Island showed Jack he wasn't afraid to do the right thing. But no matter how much Jack wanted to, there were still things he simply couldn't tell him.


	10. Chapter 10

The final "team member" finally flies in...

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 10**

Ianto walked back to the Hub, reflecting on his first week as Director of Torchwood Cardiff. Whilst he hadn't really expected a quiet week, he certainly hadn't been prepared for such an eventful one. The fact that it only was one week made it even more surprising.

Admittedly, some things had gone better than expected. The few major issues or cases like Flat Holm Island and the Carys Fletcher case had been resolved relatively quickly. And there hadn't been any major clashes between him and the rest of the team. There were a few times when Owen's behaviour had come across as unfriendliness or a lack of respect, and Gwen's naivety could sometimes blind her to the truth. But underneath it all, they were an extremely competent team.

Of course, not everything had gone how he would have liked. The deaths that had occurred during the Fletcher case cast a definite blight on the week, and he sincerely hoped that Gwen had learnt her lesson from that.

And of course, there was Suzie. The effects of that incident were still yet to be fully known.

After breakfast with Jack earlier, the pair nutted out the remaining details for looking after the Flat Holm Island facility. One thing they immediately agreed on was that the rest of the team should never be told about the rift victims or the facility. If the committee ever found out about Flat Holm, hopefully they couldn't do anything to the others over it, if they didn't even know about it. It would only be Ianto and Jack that the committee would have to deal with. And although he didn't say so, Jack was perfectly prepared to take sole responsibility for the facility with the committee should the worst happen, and he would do his best to keep Ianto out of it.

Once they had finished, Ianto had left the Hub to go home and get changed, ready for the new day. As he walked back to the Hub, he found himself walking past a car yard where an Audi drew his attention. He had always wanted to get an Audi, but Lisa never liked them, so he never did. Ianto had to get back to work relatively quickly – he had asked everyone to be in early that day – so he kept walking.

When he arrived back, the entire team, except for Suzie, was already there. Even Gwen and Owen, neither of them exactly known for punctuality, were there. He wanted to discuss any issues that the team might have with Suzie's return, prior to her arrival. They were sitting in the Boardroom, waiting for their morning dose of Ianto-coffee. He smiled to himself – some things never changed. At Torchwood 1, he sometimes thought he was only ever invited to as many meetings as he was because they wanted his coffee, and not his actual input into whatever was being discussed at these meetings. Once he had made them all a coffee, he got down to business.

The amount of retcon given to Suzie meant she was not going to remember that Ianto had been named Director. She would definitely not remember meeting him. So, not only would she be facing the awkwardness of returning to work after something had happened that she had no memory of, she would also be coming back to find that her job had gone.

With the team had assembled in the boardroom, Ianto reminded them all not to speak to Suzie about either the glove or the knife. They weren't to speak to her of anything even vaguely likely to trigger her memories. Gwen started to ask more questions about what had actually happened, claiming it was unfair that she had been kept in the dark, but one look at Ianto's face soon quietened her down again. She was still extremely self-conscious of the results of her error with the meteorite, and it slowly occurred to her that maybe she shouldn't push it. Not too much anyway.

The sound of the cogwheel door alarms going off caused the team turned to face the boardroom door. Suzie had arrived.

It was a very nervous Suzie who came to stand in the doorway. She looked at Ianto sitting in her seat in surprise, and with a fair bit of trepidation. Who was that sitting in her chair? Had she been fired?

A smile from Ianto made her relax somewhat.

"Suzie, please come in." Ianto gestured to the seat beside him. Suzie came over and with a glance at Owen, who used to sit in that position, she sat down.

They had decided it would be best if Jack spoke to Suzie about what had happened. He explained to Suzie about who Ianto was and why he was sitting in her seat. He then gave her his and Ianto's agreed upon story of why they had retconned away so many months of her life.

He told her that an artefact, that had since been destroyed, had come through the rift and had somehow imprinted into her mind that she needed to harm herself. They were unable to reverse the effects of the object and eventually had to destroy it as it kept putting more and more negative thoughts into her head. Destroying it though wasn't enough to get the harmful thoughts out of her head, so after much deliberation Suzie had apparently requested retcon.

Both Ianto and Jack had viewed the disk Suzie had recorded for herself, telling herself not to try and break through the retcon, and felt the story they came up with would not clash with anything she had said there. Ianto also thought that by telling her she was the one who had requested the retcon, she was less likely to think it was done against her will and so would hopefully be less likely to try and break through it.

Once the meeting had finished, the team went back to their workstations. Suzie was given some time to herself so she went back to her desk and looked at the artefacts assembled there. She logged onto her computer and was soon lost in her files.

The day ran smoother than expected. Ianto watched as the various team members went up to Suzie separately to welcome her back in their own ways. Suzie was grateful they all seemed to be glad to see her. One of the things she had worried about during the week was how they would treat her. She assumed they all knew what had happened, and not knowing what it was herself, she didn't know if she had done anything to any of them or anything that had affected any of them.

Ianto took them all out later for a welcome back lunch for Suzie, and that seemed to get them through any lingering awkwardness the day had brought. He went out alone after lunch to go back to the car yard and have a closer look at that Audi that had captured his attention earlier. Managing to bargain the car dealer down a few thousand pounds and also get a few freebies thrown in, Ianto ended up buying the car on the spot.

* * *

When Ianto got home that night he went into the spare bedroom and opened one of the boxes he hadn't touched as yet. The box contained a number of things he had retrieved from the wreckage of Torchwood London. He was looking for one file in particular.

This file contained research of various alien objects that Ianto's department had been dealing with. These objects were believed to be related to time travel. None of them worked and they didn't appear to originate from the same planet, but they were being compared to each other in order to try and find their similarities.

One of the many things missing from Jack's files was how he had actually arrived on Earth. And especially how he had arrived _when_ he did. Jack had always been happy to say what time he came from, but never how he travelled in time. Ianto didn't have the answer to those questions, but there was something he wanted to investigate.

Ianto grabbed a software disk from out of the folder and inserted it into his laptop. The disk contained the software Torchwood 1 was using to review their data on the instruments. He pulled the thumb drive out of his suit pocket that contained the data from his scans of Jack's Vortex Manipulator and copied the data over to his laptop.

As he waited for the software to analyse the new data, Ianto's attention was caught by one of the devices he had in the box. It was a portable rift activity locator. The city of London didn't have a rift running permanently through it, but it did on occasion have rift activity occur at random locations which needed monitoring.

He switched it on and idly flicked through the settings. His eyes widened in surprise as a result came through almost immediately. He stared at it for a moment. It didn't look to be anything dangerous so he decided he'd go and check it out. It mustn't have registered on any of the Hub's equipment either, as he had set himself up to be notified via SMS whenever something came through, and he hadn't received any such notification. Ianto left the software to finish running on his laptop and got into his new car.

He tracked the source of a signal to an abandoned warehouse in an industrial area. Getting out of the Audi, he looked around cautiously. Suddenly he saw something large fly in through an open door. Ianto stopped in shock.

_Was that a…? _Ianto stopped that thought – it couldn't possibly be _that_.

He went cautiously up to the door and looked inside to see what he could find.

* * *

Jack had just settled down with his dinner to watch some TV in his bunker when a text came from Ianto asking him to meet him out at the industrial estate straight away. Jack sighed. Just when he had begun to believe Ianto wouldn't be like the other directors who made him jump at their beck and call, here he was being expected to come running, just like that. This has to stop, he thought to himself wistfully. But he knew he couldn't say anything like that to a director, no matter how much he wanted to.

* * *

While he waited for Jack to arrive, Ianto tried to find things to distract the _creature_. It had eyed him quite closely a couple of times, and Ianto didn't fancy becoming its' dinner. Closing the warehouse door behind him, he went and looked in his car for something to distract it with. He had only bought the car this afternoon so it hadn't had time to accumulate much junk. Ianto's glance fell on the box of chocolates given to him by the car dealer as a thank you for his business sitting on the back seat. That would have to do, he supposed.

He went back into the warehouse and started throwing random chocolates at the creature to see how it would react. To his relief, it started eating some of the chocolates and started to ignore Ianto. He noticed with some amusement it had only eaten the dark chocolates and left the rest there. Ianto had always preferred dark chocolate too.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the creature to start getting restless again and Ianto decided he had better go outside and wait. Jack was most likely still five minutes away at least. There was a 24/7 grocery store open just down the road and Ianto thought it might be a good idea to go and get some supplies.

Ianto got back just at the same time that Jack rolled up in the SUV. He stood in the beams of the SUV's headlights, waiting for Jack to get out.

Jack got out of the SUV and slammed the door. He strode up to Ianto and looked at him questioningly, still angry about being called out like that. Jack was totally unprepared for what he heard next.

"So, you gonna help me catch this pterodactyl then?"

* * *

When Jack finally managed to close his mouth again, he moved the SUV closer to the warehouse door, to make it easier once they had caught the pterodactyl. He opened the back of the SUV and started assembling an enormous syringe. Ianto looked at him in disbelief.

"OK, that is the only special equipment you've got?"

"Yeah, 'cause I keep dinosaur nets in the back of the SUV!"

"Torchwood London would have!"

Jack just glared at him; he'd already made his opinion of Torchwood London quite clear to Ianto. He wasn't going there again.

The men made jogged over to the warehouse door and Jack burst through the door, Ianto right behind him. The pterodactyl was flying the length of the warehouse but the moment it saw Jack, it headed straight for them, squawking loudly. With a "nope" from Ianto, they ran back outside again. They leant against the door, panting.

"How'd you find it?" Jack asked.

"Rift Activity Locator."

Jack looked at him in surprise. "Torchwood London?"

"See, quality kit."

"Yeah, it's quite excitable."

"Must be your aftershave."

"Never wear any!"

"You smell like that naturally?"

"51st century pheromones. You people have no idea. Ready for another go?"

"I'm game if you are." Ianto's expression said otherwise.

"Three, two, one…" Jack pulled the door open again and they went back in, only to see the pterodactyl head straight for them again.

"Split up!" Jack yelled.

They ran in opposite directions around the warehouse and the creature ended up flying between them to land near the door. It turned back and looked at them.

Jack smiled, in absolute awe of what he was looking at. He called out to it. "We're not gonna harm you. You can't stay here. Come back with me. We've got somewhere nice and big where you can fly around."

"What exactly is your plan?" Ianto asked.

"I'm gonna be the decoy."

"And it will rip you to shreds."

"Dinosaurs? Had 'em for breakfast. Had to, only source of pre-killed food protein after the asteroid crashed. Long story. Here you go." Jack handed the syringe to Ianto. "One injection to the central nervous cortex. I'll keep it occupied."

"No!" Ianto shook his head.

"What?" Jack looked on in surprise as Ianto handed the syringe back.

"It knows me. I'll be a better decoy."

"No, way too dangerous."

"No, I've got a secret weapon. Chocolate. Preferably dark." He pulled a block of chocolate out from his suit pocket and brandished it at Jack. He walked away without another word, leaving Jack looking at around in surprise.

Ianto edged his way slowly towards the pterodactyl, whistling. "Got your favourite, yeah."

He kept walking closer, keeping the pterodactyl's attention away from Jack who was slowly getting closer from the other side of the creature.

"It's good for your serotonin levels. If… you've got… serotonin levels." Ianto wasn't really sure what to say, he was just saying anything that came to mind to keep it distracted. He tossed the chocolate onto the ground just in front of the pterodactyl.

The creature started to peck at the chocolate but its attention was suddenly diverted by Jack. Not having any time to lose, Jack ran at the creature but before he had a chance to sedate it, it took off grabbing hold of Jack.

"Whoa!" Ianto yelled. There was nothing he could do as the creature flew off with Jack hanging on to it trying not to fall.

"Argh! Whoa! Ianto!" Jack finally managed to inject the pterodactyl with the sedative. The pterodactyl started flying towards Ianto's end of the warehouse. Jack waited until it flew near Ianto before letting go and, without thinking, Ianto put his arms up to catch Jack as he fell. Jack landed on him with a thud, squashing the air out of Ianto's lungs temporarily and nearly kneeing him in a particularly sensitive spot.

"Sorry!" Jack said breathlessly.

Simultaneously they realised the pterodactyl was falling to the ground above them and, still huddled together, they rolled themselves over and over. They came to a stop a few metres away, and as they watched the pterodactyl fall to the ground, it suddenly occurred to them both how crazy the whole situation was. They burst into relieved laughter.

Ianto looked down at Jack lying beneath him. As his face got closer to Jack's and their noses nearly touched, he could suddenly smell the aftershave he had smelt earlier when resting in Jack's bunker. Except now, he knew it wasn't aftershave; it was Jack himself. It was Jack's own scent that had relaxed him.

He couldn't help himself from thinking that as nice as Jack might smell, he just wasn't Lisa. Ianto realised the smiles had fallen off both of their faces and Jack was looking at him carefully, their mouths almost close enough to kiss. Ianto closed his eyes to shut out the vision of Jack's blue eyes.

"I should go." Ianto pushed himself away from Jack abruptly and walked away.

"Hey! I'll see you at work first thing tomorrow." Jack stood up and cocked his head slightly; unsure of exactly what had just happened.

With only a slight pause, Ianto continued walking away. He got into his car and drove straight home, not even staying to help Jack clean up and put the pterodactyl in the SUV. He didn't know why but he just had to get out of there, he had to get away from Jack.


	11. Chapter 11

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 11**

Jack sped back to the Hub, alternating between anger and disappointment.

First Ianto had messaged him out of the blue ordering him to meet him at the warehouse. Jack had been annoyed that Ianto had called him out and just expected him to come running. However, once he got there and heard why Ianto had called for him, he realised that there wasn't much else that Ianto could have done. After all, who sends a message along the lines of: "Hey, I've found a pterodactyl, let's catch it" and expects to be believed. Even for Torchwood, that was pushing it a bit.

But when they were in the warehouse lying against each other on the floor, with the way they were looking at each other, he had thought – had hoped – for one brief moment there was a chance their encounter was going to take a decidedly different turn. Jack couldn't deny he was physically attracted to Ianto, and had been since the first time he saw him. If Ianto hadn't turned out to be the new director that night in the park, Jack might have been tempted to pursue him further right then.

In the warehouse though, Ianto had closed his eyes like he couldn't stand the sight of Jack, and had just upped and left with barely another word. He hadn't even hung around long enough to help bundle up the pterodactyl into the SUV, instead stalking off leaving Jack behind to do the clean up.

He wasn't expecting Ianto to treat him like the servant the other directors had. Jack had begun to think that Ianto actually seemed to like him; Ianto had treated him like every other member of the team and he hadn't treated Jack any differently when he saw him come back to life after Suzie killed him. Most other directors couldn't look at him straight the first time they saw it happen, but Ianto had just carried on as if nothing had changed. Tonight though, Ianto had seemed to treat him more like the other directors had.

* * *

Jack stayed up most of the night building a habitat for the pterodactyl. By the time morning came, he had created a fairly sturdy sleeping area for it near the roof of the Hub. He would also build automatic doors to be able to shut it into its section, should they have visitors.

As usual, Ianto was the first to arrive in the morning. Jack waited for Ianto to come over and speak to him, still not entirely comfortable with the previous night. Beyond a discussion about how the pterodactyl had settled in though, neither of them mentioned the previous night, and they went their separate ways.

Suzie and Tosh were amazed by the sight of the creature flying around the Hub. Both girls jumped when they first heard it screech. Ianto had already heard it the previous night in the warehouse, so he was mostly prepared for the deafening loudness of the creature's screeching but it still sounded louder than expected within the confines of the Hub.

Jack announced that he had decided during the night that the pterodactyl was a female, and a short while later Ianto came up with the name Myfanwy. He refused to explain how he had come up with that name.

A string of profanity heralded Owen's arrival as Myfanwy swooped at him as soon as he entered the Hub.

By the time Gwen arrived Myfanwy had retreated back to the area Jack had set up for her, so Gwen didn't immediately notice anything different. The rest of the team looked at each other, and with a few hidden grins, it was silently agreed not to say anything to her. They watched her settle down at her desk with her morning coffee, wanting to see how long it would take her to realise something else was in the Hub with them.

The team only had to wait a few minutes before Myfanwy decided it would be a good time to fly down for a closer look. The pterodactyl swooped down with an enormous screech just as Gwen was lifting her mug for another sip of coffee causing her to jump in fright, spilling her coffee on her desk and on herself.

"What was that?" Gwen had gone pale.

"Pterodactyl," Tosh called out from her desk.

Gwen looked up at Myfanwy in disbelief and looked back down at Suzie and Owen who were standing there laughing at her reaction. She muttered "Bloody Torchwood" under her breath and disappeared into the kitchen to grab a cloth to clean up her mess, leaving them all to watch after her, still laughing.

"Does it have a name?" she asked when got back from the kitchen.

"_She_ is called Myfanwy," Ianto replied.

As Gwen thought about the meaning of Myfanwy, it was her turn to laugh.

* * *

The next few weeks turned out to be very busy for the Torchwood team. A seemingly endless number of rift alerts, combined with more and more Weevil attacks, had the entire team run ragged and, at some stages, struggling to keep up. With Suzie's return, they were back up to a full team and, with Ianto capably co-ordinating their alerts from the Hub, they found they functioned well together.

Suzie seemed to settle back in quite nicely. There were a few moments of awkwardness when the conversation had drifted towards things that had happened during the period of time that Suzie no longer remembered, but overall she had fitted in with the new team dynamics remarkably well. Both Owen and Tosh observed that she seemed to be happier than she had been previously, more like how she had been back when they first started working with her. Jack said it was like nothing was weighing her down any more. Neither Gwen nor Ianto had worked with her long enough to notice any real difference, but Ianto was reassured by the others' comments.

Suzie was showing herself to have a brilliant mind with a wicked sense of humour and Ianto was extremely pleased to have her there. He did ask her once if she wanted to return to UNIT, but she was adamant she wanted to stay with Torchwood. She didn't know what had happened during the time she couldn't remember, beyond what Jack had told her, but she thought the best place for her to be was Torchwood, not UNIT.

Also helping her to settle in was Ianto continuing to take them out for drinks every so often, whenever the rift alerts gave them a few hours peace. He tried to make sure that all of the team were there, and that no one was left out. Occasionally though he would send the rest of the team out while he behind stayed at the Hub.

Jack would sometimes stay back too, arguing that if an alert came up he would be able to respond sooner from the Hub than from a pub. They continued to avoid speaking to each other about anything personal and, on those nights, Jack would usually disappear into the lower levels claiming there was work he needed to do in the archives.

With the ongoing high number of alerts, Ianto had taken to working later and later each night, stating that all the team, including Jack, needed to go home to get their rest. Eventually it seemed like he hardly ever left the Hub. More and more Jack would return from a late night call out or just a night out to find Ianto asleep at his desk. Jack eventually started sending him down into the bunker again to get some proper sleep.

One night Jack felt really run down and he desperately needed some sleep. Ianto was already asleep in the bunker so Jack climbed quietly down the ladder to get himself something more comfortable to sleep in. He was going to get changed and then go back up and rest on the sofa in the main Hub. Since Jack's body only needed a few hours to recuperate, he figured he'd be awake and off the sofa again before Ianto even woke up. He knew that Ianto wouldn't be happy with the thought that he had kept Jack from his bed for his own sake.

He hadn't counted on Ianto usually being such a light sleeper, and as he started to climb back up the ladder Ianto had called out to him softly.

"Jack?"

Jack stopped and turned around to look at Ianto.

"What's happening?" Ianto asked.

"Nothing much, I'm just going to get a few hours rest. The rift seems to be quiet for the moment." Jack replied.

"Oh." Ianto sat himself up. "Do you want the bed back?"

Jack shook his head. "No, I'll just be on the sofa."

Ianto yawned. "It's OK. Like you said, there's enough room for two here."

Jack looked back Ianto. "You sure?"

Ianto didn't reply, he just moved over making room for Jack. Jack paused a moment and then with a small shrug, he climbed in next to Ianto.

"Just make sure you behave yourself there, Captain," Ianto said with a sleepy grin, poking at Jack's shoulder with a solitary finger.

Jack smiled back at him, wishing they would joke around together more often, and then he lay down, promptly falling asleep.

Jack woke a few hours later and looked over thoughtfully at the sleeping director. This was not the first time he had shared his bed with one of the directors, but it was definitely the first time when all they had done was sleep. A number of directors, both male and female, had demanded his 'services' and there were even a few times when Jack had been the initiator. But simply sharing the bed, with no demands being placed on him, that was something different.

Perhaps Ianto would turn out to be different to the other directors after all.

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks with no let up in sight with all of the rift activity, Ianto and Jack gradually fell into the habit of sharing the bed more often. Jack would come in for a few hours before getting up again to continue monitoring the alerts. Ianto would wake up in time to go home, shower and change then come back and start all over again.

Neither of them really spoke much to each other about it, and neither of them expected it to progress any further. They both found they enjoyed having someone there with them; it had been a while since either of them had someone to wake up next to. It also helped to break the ice between them, and they slowly started talking to each other again.

* * *

One night Jack was woken by Ianto having a nightmare. Jack knew that Ianto was regularly troubled by nightmares and had often heard him having nightmares. This one in particular seemed to be particularly bad.

After a while, Jack moved over closer behind Ianto and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ianto?" he said gently.

Ianto only groaned, still lost in the nightmare.

Jack shook his shoulder. "Ianto," he said a bit louder this time.

"Lisa… No… Please don't…"

Jack wasn't surprised. Many of Ianto's dreams or nightmares seemed to revolve around Lisa. There were also some nightmares about someone called Ethan, but those seemed to have disappeared recently.

"Ianto!" Jack shook Ianto's shoulder a bit harder and spoke a bit louder this time. Ianto was usually a light sleeper, but when he was caught up in a nightmare it could be near impossible to wake him.

Ianto jumped a little and rolled on to his back. His eyes slowly opened and he looked up at Jack. "Sorry, did I wake you again?"

Jack shook his head. "It's alright." He paused. "Do you want to talk about it? Your nightmare?"

Ianto closed his eyes briefly and rolled back on his side facing away from Jack. "Not really," he mumbled.

"OK then. Get back to sleep." Jack squeezed Ianto's shoulder and lay back down.

During the night more nightmares came. Jack was able to fend these away by rubbing his hand up and down Ianto's back, by brushing his fingers through his hair, whispering calming words. Jack was mostly able to calm him down without waking him up. Only once more during the night did Ianto actually wake up.

He was writhing on the bed, almost as if he was under attack from someone. He sat up at one stage flinging his arms in front of his face. Jack sat up with him and took hold of his arms and wrapped them around his own body, allowing him to hold Ianto closely. Ianto responded by grabbing hold of Jack tightly, his hands clutching at Jack's shirt. The fight slowly left Ianto, and he slumped weakly against Jack, still gasping and shuddering. Unable to wake him up or calm him down properly, Jack held him tight and sang him a lullaby from his home world on the Boeshane Peninsula. It was a song that his mother always sang to him whenever he woke up from his own nightmares as a child.

After Ianto had calmed down and had eventually woken, Jack asked him if he normally had that many nightmares. Ianto was confused as he only remembered the two nightmares that had woken him up. Normal for him was four or five of those nightmares. Jack then told him about the smaller ones he didn't wake up for; Ianto didn't remember any of them. That made them both wonder how many he really had each night when he was on his own.

Towards morning, Jack woke up feeling something across his chest. Opening his eyes, he smiled in surprise to see that Ianto was lying close beside him with an arm casually resting over Jack. Even more surprising was that Jack was actually resting his hand on Ianto's arm.

Ianto woke not long after him, and realising where he had his arm he went to remove it but Jack tightened his hold on Ianto's arm, stopping him from moving. Jack had seen the sudden panic in Ianto's eyes about the physical contact.

"Stay," Jack whispered. He kept his grip on Ianto's arm until he felt him relax. They instinctively snuggled a bit closer to each other and stayed there until the alarm went off for them to get up.

Jack found he was quite content to be lying there like that with Ianto.


	12. Chapter 12

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 12**

Ianto had his first major nightmare less than a week after Ethan had disappeared. The little boy dreamt of swirling lights and hideous creatures, with large fangs, who were trying to eat him. The nightmare caused him to wake up screaming each time. After a couple of nights of this, his father lost patience with being woken up every night and, bursting into Ianto's room, he smacked his bottom hard, yelling at him to keep his bloody mouth shut. Ianto soon learnt to keep his voice down, and he would end up crying into his pillow instead of screaming.

Rhiannon, whose bedroom was next door, would sometimes still hear him crying. Being the only one in the family who didn't blame Ianto for Ethan's disappearance, she would sometimes sneak into Ianto's room, bringing in a small white teddy bear of hers she knew he had always been partial to. She would leave the teddy bear there to comfort him and would come and get it back in the mornings, before her parents woke, knowing how their father felt about Ianto playing with 'girls' toys.

The nightmares continued right throughout his childhood, coming to him nearly every night. Not far into his teens, his nightmares evolved. One night he dreamt of one of his classmates being involved in a fatal car accident; he saw where the accident happened and what the results would be. The next day he was horrified, but not entirely surprised, to learn that the girl he had dreamt about would not be returning to school. She had died in a car accident, in the very same location that Ianto had dreamt about.

As an adult, the nightmares continued unabated and he slowly learnt to tell the difference between the different types of nightmares. When he was with Lisa, which happened to be the first relationship where he felt truly safe with his partner, the nightmares eased off somewhat the closer they got. Whilst they never entirely disappeared, he did manage to have the occasional couple of nights that were gloriously nightmare-free. Also, with Lisa working at Torchwood as well, he was finally able to tell someone about the different types of nightmare he had, without fear of her thinking him crazy.

In the lead up to Canary Wharf, Ianto started dreaming of horrifying, robotic creatures that had appeared out of nowhere and tried to take over the world. When the ghost shifts started, all these dreams fell into place and he knew immediately what the apparitions were going to turn into. He told Lisa about the dreams, and wanted to report them to his supervisor, but she begged him to keep them to himself. She knew no one else would take him seriously, and she had a fair idea how Yvonne Hartman would react if Ianto tried to speak out against one of her pet projects.

After the collapse of Torchwood London, and the loss of Lisa, the guilt Ianto felt for not having spoken up manifested itself in the form of his nightmares coming back in full force. He constantly relived the attack of the Cybermen and Daleks in his mind. Day or night it didn't matter, and even the smallest sound could set him off; whether it was kids in the park playing war games or someone lighting a fire, all sorts of things could have him instantly recalling the events of Canary Wharf. Without Lisa to help him through it, the constant flashbacks were putting a great deal of strain on him, resulting in the almost constant nightmares that Jack was now starting to see.

So when Owen, and to a lesser extent Gwen, felt the strain of the events they had unwittingly witnessed using the quantum transducer found in Bernie Harris' jacket, Ianto completely understood how they felt.

* * *

Owen sat alone in his darkened flat and remembered.

He could remember exactly how Lizzie Lewis felt in his vision; he felt her fear, her terror, her shame. He felt every one of these emotions, as if they were his own. He heard the singsong voice of Ed Morgan calling Lizzie's name over and over again and he felt a chill in the pit of his stomach. The more he heard Ed speak, the more he felt Lizzie's fear. She was terrified.

And when Owen Harper was afraid, he nearly always covered it with anger. In this case, anger at the elusive Ed Morgan who had appeared to have gotten away with rape and murder for all these years, while Lizzie's family, especially her mother Mabel who had lost her only child, were left behind to pick up the pieces.

He sat in the lounge chair, staring out the window, occasionally looking down at the print out of the _'Cardiff Examiner'_ article about the murder he held in his hands. He eventually got up and gathered up some of the files he had scattered all over the floor, trying to find some answers. Sitting back down again, he picked up his telephone directory and flipped through the pages until he got to the name 'Morgan'. He ran his finger down the page until he came to the entry for Ed Morgan. Suddenly he ripped the page out of the book and came to a decision.

The next morning he called Ianto to tell him he'd be in late, claiming he had some personal matters to attend to. Pulling up at the house where he believed he'd find Ed Morgan, he searched through his various ID cards before choosing one and going up to the house.

* * *

Owen left Morgan's house just in time to see Bernie Harris hanging around nearby. This led to Bernie taking him, Jack, Tosh and Gwen back to his house to show them the other half of the ghost machine. After confiscating all the alien items they found at Bernie's house, they left him alone, knowing that he didn't have any useful information to give them.

As they left though, Gwen was once again unable to resist pushing the buttons on the now-completed ghost machine. Ignoring Jack's desperate yells, she set the machine off yet again. It showed her another vision, but this time it was a vision of the future. And this vision was far more gruesome than before. They returned to the Hub to discuss what had happened, before Ianto eventually decided they had done all they could for the day.

Knowing about Gwen and Rhys' argument the previous day, Ianto sent Gwen home to spend time with Rhys. Jack had seen situations like Gwen's before, and he warned Ianto not to let her let it drift. Ianto agreed entirely, knowing how much tougher things would have been for him and Lisa if they hadn't of both worked for Torchwood.

Toshiko dragged Owen off to a pub; she had seen the tension growing between him and Jack over the last couple of days and she wanted to discuss what she had found out about Ed Morgan away from the others. Suzie was somewhere in the Hub putting together a report Ianto had requested on all the power fluctuations that had been happening the entire time Ianto had been working there.

That left just Jack and Ianto. Ianto was sitting in his office, surreptitiously watching Jack sticking up pictures on their evidence board. A grin crossed Ianto's face as he remembered the child-like glee with which Jack had responded when he finally worked out what the ghost machine actually was. It was a sharp contrast to how serious and sombre he was now. After two days of butting heads with Owen over how to deal with Morgan, that joy had faded quickly. Ianto felt a sudden urge to give Jack a hug, to try and cheer him up. He wanted to see that wonderful grin back on Jack's face.

He had just stood up to go over and speak to him, when the cogwheel door alarms went off and Tosh and Owen walked back in.

* * *

Both Ianto and Jack were livid that Owen had been to see Morgan earlier. Ianto because Owen had blatantly lied to him, and Jack because he expected better from Owen. Neither of their tempers improved when they also learnt that Gwen hadn't gone home like she was told, and was in actual fact over at Bernie Harris' house. Ianto called for Suzie over the comms and she came back up to the main level and they decided what to do.

Ianto forbade Owen to return to Bernie's house, not wanting to take any chances of the vision coming true. Instead, he and Suzie would accompany Jack in the SUV. Jack didn't think this would be a good idea, given that Ianto had not yet had any weapons training and Suzie had not yet been cleared for field duties after the retconning. Ianto, however, insisted that Owen was going nowhere near Bernie's house. Gwen's vision had clearly shown the murder would happen in the street outside Bernie's house. Deliberately avoiding looking at Suzie, Ianto looked meaningfully at Jack when he said he didn't want any potential murderers on his team.

Unfortunately, keeping Owen away wasn't enough to save Ed Morgan's life. When he 'accidentally' tripped over and fell upon the knife Gwen was holding, Gwen's vision came true after all. Owen had followed the SUV in his own car, regardless that he was disobeying orders again, but he was still unable to save Morgan's life.

Neither Ianto nor Jack paid that much attention though as they were both distracted by Gwen's misery. Suzie took her back into Bernie's house to wash the blood off her hands and then drove her back to the Hub in Gwen's car. After they placed Morgan's body in the back of the SUV, Ianto and Jack followed closely behind, leaving Owen behind to retcon Bernie.

Suzie had guided Gwen to a seat in Ianto's office, and she and Tosh were standing nearby in silent support. Ianto took one look at the devastation on Gwen's face and decided not to question her any further. He locked the ghost machine away in the Secure Archives and sent everyone home again, telling them not to come in the next day. He sent Jack with Gwen, knowing how much more comfortable she was with Jack than she was with him. He told Jack that he was going home too, but unlike the others, he would be in the next day.

Ianto arrived around midday, with some takeaway for him and Jack. He found Jack playing catch with Myfanwy and the large chunks of meat they bought to feed her with. When he saw Ianto come in, Jack stopped the game and with one final flying swoop towards Ianto, Myfanwy returned to her own area.

Later that evening, Jack took Ianto down into the firing range, where he had laid out a selection of guns and ammunition. Ianto looked at all the targets set out and grinned at Jack.

"Whoa!" Ianto hadn't been in this area of the Hub as yet, and was impressed with the set up.

"It's all yours." Jack gestured towards the table.

After putting on their headsets and protective glasses, Jack had Ianto load up the first gun. He looked at Ianto's stance, and then moved in close to correct it. He removed one of Ianto's hands from the gun.

"One hand, not two."

Jack took hold of Ianto's shoulders and turned him side on. With Jack and Ianto being of a similar height, their bodies fit together perfectly as Jack took up position behind Ianto. Ianto tensed up at their close proximity, but Jack waited patiently for Ianto to relax again. He raised Ianto's arm out in front of them, running his hand along the length of Ianto's arm and putting it into position. Jack held Ianto's arm out straight with one hand, and brought his other arm around Ianto's body and gently pressed his hand to Ianto's stomach, holding him in place.

"Turn sideways to the target."

Ianto was all too aware of the warmth of Jack's breath against the side of his face, and the smell of those damn pheromones, as Jack gave him his instructions. He closed his eyes, needing to escape the distractions.

Jack laughed gently. "You'll need you eyes open to see what you're doing…"

Ianto opened his eyes reluctantly and forced himself to concentrate on the target, not on Jack. Jack guided him through cocking the gun and firing his first shot. They both laughed in joy as the shot hit the target.

"That was a joint effort," Jack claimed. "Try it again. This time on your own."

Over the next hour Jack took Ianto through all the weapons, discussed how to fire them, showed him different techniques, including using both hands and spent some time shooting targets himself. Ianto was starting to get sore arms, not being used to holding them up for so long, so Jack said they would have a target competition and then they would stop for the night. After a shaky start, Ianto actually won their little competition, surprising the pair of them and causing Ianto to raise his arms in victory.

They stood grinning at each other for a few moments before Jack took a step closer, slowly raising a hand to Ianto's cheek. Ianto closed his eyes briefly until his flight instincts inevitably took over, and he took a step backwards.

"I- I- need to go," he stuttered, before turning and practically fleeing the room.

Jack growled and slammed his hand on the table in disappointment.

* * *

Ianto's emotions were in turmoil. He knew that Jack had most likely been about to kiss him. He wasn't blind; he had seen it in Jack's eyes for a while now, when they were alone or when they were talking. Ianto knew he was not bothered by Jack being a man, even though he had never been in a relationship with another man before. He was also aware that he himself had wanted to kiss Jack as well. He had found himself wondering what Jack would taste like, and what it would feel like to run his fingers through Jack's hair, down his back, along his arms. It was just that no matter how hard he tried; he simply could not get the image of Lisa out of his head any time he thought of anything happening between him and Jack.

It didn't help that he was continuously having nightmares that involved Lisa. Usually the nightmares that he had as often as this had been the type of nightmares that pointed to some sort of event that was going to happen soon. But for this nightmare, he knew that Lisa was dead, so there was no way it could ever come true.

He had started having this particular nightmare before he had left London. His beloved Lisa, covered with the metal parts of a Cyberman, but yet somehow not a Cyberman, was going on a rampage through Torchwood 1, killing everyone in sight. After he moved back to Cardiff, the dream changed slightly so that her rampage now occurred in the Hub instead.

No matter where the dream was set though, it always ended the same way. With Lisa killing Ianto. That night Ianto dreamt the dream once again, only for the first time it wasn't Ianto she killed. It was Jack.


	13. Chapter 13

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 13**

"Boss?"

Ianto looked up at the knock on the door and smiled. "Suzie. Come in."

Suzie sat herself down on the other side of Ianto's desk and placed a folder on it. "Here's that report you wanted."

Ianto took the folder and started flipping through. "Anything interesting I should know about?"

"It all looks to be about how you said. There was one room I couldn't get into though; no matter what key I tried. And for some reason, there's no CCTV in that room either, so I can't even tell you what's in there." Suzie pointed out the room she was talking about on the floor plan she had included with the report.

"OK, thanks Suzie. I'll check it out."

Suzie nodded and got up to go back to her desk but paused and turned back to Ianto.

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Was there something else?"

Suzie nodded again, a little hesitantly this time. "I was wondering, I mean, I've been back a month now… I was wondering when I'd be allowed back in the field again. You know, when I'll get my full clearance back."

Ianto looked out the door musingly. "Well… I did say we'd review your status after a month. I haven't seen any issues. How do you feel about being here? There was one stage when you didn't think I was the best option for Torchwood."

Suzie shrugged. "I don't have a problem with you. And I would like to stay."

"Have you had any issues since coming back? Nothing trying to break through from before?"

She shook her head.

"Well, I don't have any problem with reinstating you. There's just one thing though, I want Jack to remain in charge of all field missions. Would that be a problem for you?"

"Not at all. I can see why he's a good choice." Suzie replied.

"Well that's settled then." Ianto pulled out some paperwork from his drawer. He had already prepared the forms necessary to reinstate her; they only required her signature to become official.

Ianto reached out and shook Suzie's hand. "Welcome back!" he smiled.

* * *

After Suzie left, Ianto looked at the map of the room thoughtfully. He recognised that room. It was the room that he had found Jack coming out of the first week he was at Cardiff, when he had first found out about the power fluctuations.

Speaking of Jack, he hadn't actually seen much of him today, Ianto thought to himself. When he had arrived in the morning, he had made his morning round of coffees, including one for Jack, but after taking the cup from him, Jack had disappeared downstairs and hadn't been seen since. Ianto couldn't really blame him, given the way he'd walked out on him the previous night. He knew he needed to speak to him about it, but he really didn't know what to say.

Ianto made his way slowly down the lower levels to the room, hoping to find Jack there. He tried the handle, only to find the door locked, as Suzie had said. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked harder, but still got no response. Ianto had just started to walk away when he heard the door opening behind him.

"Ianto?"

He spun around to see Jack standing there looking anxiously at him.

* * *

Sitting in the locked room, Jack had been observing Ianto on the monitor as he walked along the corridors, just as he had done when Suzie was investigating the power fluctuations. There was no CCTV into the room, but a surveillance system had been set up a while back, which allowed Jack to see all the way back out to the main Hub area and make sure he wasn't disturbed. He needed to be assured of complete privacy while he was working in there.

Watching Ianto make his way down to the room, Jack thought back to what had happened between him and Ianto so far.

Captain Jack Harkness had never before needed to wait so long to get into the pants of someone he was interested in. The renowned Harkness charm never usually failed. In fact, at one stage he had even had an unofficial competition going with Owen over how many people they could pull. Jack won by a mile, and on the rare nights they had both set their sights on the same person, Owen never stood a chance.

When the new director arrived, Jack stopped going out on the pull. At first it was because he didn't know what type of director Ianto would turn out to be; whether he was going to be one of the ones who treated him as something less than human, or one that actually treated him decently. As he grew to trust Ianto, and gradually grew closer to him, he found he simply didn't want to. Ianto was far more interesting and far more important to Jack than going out and scoring some casual shag.

For the first time in a very long time, he wished he had never met the tarot card girl. If he hadn't, he would never have known that someone would be coming that he had to wait for. He could have disappeared a long time ago, and never would have even met Ianto. What was the point in building a relationship with Ianto when he going to leave soon?

The century had now turned twice, as the girl said it would, and this someone should be coming soon. The one who would give him his answers. After all he had been through at the hands of Torchwood, once he found out what he needed to know and got his Vortex Manipulator back, he would leave Torchwood and never look back.

He couldn't afford to be distracted by Ianto, not now. He had been rather disconcerted to find that he had actually missed having Ianto with him over the last couple of nights, and it worried him. Although, to be fair, it wasn't only himself that he was worried about. He didn't want to get too involved with someone when he knew all he was going to hurt them by leaving. Jack had the impression that Ianto had been hurt enough for one lifetime.

When Ianto knocked on the door Jack was determined to ignore him. Then Ianto knocked again, and Jack saw the look of disappointment cross Ianto's face at the lack of response. He knew Ianto would know he was in there, so he decided to open the door after all.

* * *

"Oh, you are in there after all," Ianto said.

Jack nodded. Ianto walked back to the door and looked in the room.

"What's this room for?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "It's just a room I work in from time to time, it's nothing special."

Ianto pointed to an alien device on a workbench and walked over for a closer look. "What's that?"

"That? Just some alien technology that came through the rift a while back. It's harmless."

"What does it do?"

"Nothing much at the moment. It's broken. Tosh's birthday is coming up soon, and if I can fix it, I was going to give it to her for as a present. Something she would keep here at the Hub, obviously.

"It's really only a toy. You feed it the co-ordinates of a place or the details of people you want to see and projects a 3D image of it. I know Tosh misses her family, and there's only so many times you can look at the same picture over and over again."

Jack was referring to the fact that Tosh had been forbidden all contact with her family, except in special circumstances, as part of the contract she signed to be released from the UNIT prison.

Ianto nodded and finally turned back to face Jack directly. They looked at each uncomfortably.

"Jack…"

"Ianto…"

They both spoke at the same time and then laughed in relief.

Ianto gestured at Jack. "You first."

Jack, for once, found he suddenly didn't know what to say. How could he say, 'Ianto, I want you, but I'm heading off soon so nothing serious can happen between us'? He didn't think Ianto was the type of person to do casual, and quite frankly, he thought Ianto deserved better anyway.

Jack just shook his head and gestured back at Ianto. "Nope, you're the boss."

Ianto smiled briefly and took a breath. "I just wanted to apologise for the way I ran out on you last night. It was err rude of me."

"Did I cross a line?" Jack asked earnestly. "Did I go too far? Did you not want me to kiss you?"

Ianto shook his head. "No, no. It's not that. I did… I mean, I do want you to… I just, I can't… I mean, I still love Li… Oh, I don't know…" Ianto broke off, clearly upset at not being able to express himself how he wanted to.

Jack walked over to him, slowly, so as not to startle him. "Then can I just hold you instead? I won't do anything else, I promise."

Ianto looked at him, the strain showing clearly in his blue eyes. Jack stood in front of him and carefully put his arms around him. Jack felt Ianto freeze up and cursed silently, was even _that_ too much for Ianto?

But Ianto managed to relax again. It wasn't that different to when Jack had held him after his nightmares, he told himself. He put his own arms around Jack and leant his head in towards him, Jack's pheromones relaxing him yet again.

After a while, they pulled apart and looked at each other again. "Was that OK?" Jack asked.

"Yes Jack, very." Ianto's voice sounded a bit rough. He hadn't slept well the previous night, and being held by Jack he had allowed his professional mask to slip, letting his discomfort show through. He took a deep breath and got himself back into work mode.

"Come on," he said. "Lunch should be here by now."

With one final glance back into the room, they went back to the main area of the Hub.

* * *

Walking into the boardroom, Ianto went around to his seat and sat down. He leant over and started helping himself to some of the chicken-based dishes but stopped when he saw large grins appear on Owen, Gwen and Suzie's faces.

"What's so funny?"

Tosh laughed. "We were just commenting, before you came in, about how rarely you eat vegetables, and then you came in and went straight for the chicken."

Ianto looked at the dishes on the table and saw they had deliberately placed the vegetable-based dishes closest to him, leaving the meat dishes further away, meaning he'd had to deliberately stretch out to get to them.

"Yeah, and Owen bet us you would go for the beef vindaloo first, but Tosh said it would be the chicken." Suzie added.

"Right, so you lot take bets on what I eat?" Ianto shook his head in mock anger. "Well, I think I better give you something a bit more interesting to bet on then."

Ianto went on to propose a basketball competition. "We've got that basketball ring out there, just sitting there, gathering dust. We'll split up into two teams: me, Jack and Tosh on one team, Owen, Gwen and Suzie on the other. No doubt Myfanwy will get involved too – whether simply to join in or even just to eat the ball."

They had their first basketball competition that evening. Gwen volunteered to be the bookie and take all the bets for the game. They ran some serious bets on things like who would be first to score, which team would have the most even spread of scorers and, of course, which team would win. Owen wanted some other less serious things to bet on as well, things like how often he could trip Tosh over, how many times he could hit Jack and Ianto in the head with the ball or how many times Jack would stop and flirt with Gwen or Suzie in an effort to distract them. They all decided the losing team would have to shout the winning team a round of drinks the next night at their weekly pub night.

Ianto's team won the game, much to Owen's disgust. He immediately claimed a re-match, and both teams agreed to play again the following night before going to the pub. They were all too tired to play again that night.

After the game, Tosh and the losing team decided they were done for the night and they all went home. Ianto headed back up to his office, Jack following close behind.

Ianto sat at his desk and looked up questioningly at Jack who was standing in the doorway.

"Are you staying tonight?" Jack asked quietly.

Ianto hesitated. He needed to go home, he had left his laptop with the software that was testing the data from Jack's Vortex Manipulator running weeks ago. With the busy few weeks he'd had where he'd barely left the Hub, it had been pushed to the back of his mind. Even being home the past two nights he hadn't looked at it, being distracted by other events. Remembering the feel of Jack's arms around him earlier though, he knew full well he wasn't going anywhere.

He nodded at Jack who smiled back at him with a classic Jack Harkness mega-grin.

* * *

Jack stayed awake most of the night watching over Ianto. He wanted him to sleep, without being disturbed too much by his nightmares. He managed to fend off the minor nightmares, by calming Ianto down, much the same as he had done previous nights. He had just started to drift off himself when Ianto started calling out to Lisa.

Unlike previous nightmares, Ianto started thrashing about violently and Jack had to hold him tightly against himself to stop him hurting himself. Ianto eventually started to calm down and Jack was able to wake him up. Ianto lay there, breathing erratically and resting his head against Jack who was rubbing his hand up and down Ianto's back soothingly. When his breathing and his racing heart finally returned to normal, Jack placed a finger under his chin and gently but firmly raised Ianto's head up to look at him.

"You need to tell me about these nightmares Ianto. You can't keep bottling it up like you are, it's only making things worse."

Jack saw the distress in Ianto's eyes at that, but he wasn't going to let it go.

"Ianto… Come on." Jack rolled over onto his back, pulling Ianto with him, getting them both in a more comfortable position.

Resting his head on Jack's chest, Ianto felt one of Jack's arms wrap around him and his other hand come up to stroke the back of his head. Ianto lay there a moment, losing himself in the feeling of Jack's hand running through his hair. Maybe it would be easier to tell Jack about the nightmare if he couldn't see his face as he did so. He took a deep breath, inhaling another calming dose of Jack's pheromones. How could it be that something so calming could also be so arousing at other times, Ianto wondered. There had been a number of times where the smell of Jack's pheromones had made him want to rip all of Jack's clothes off where they stood.

A gentle squeeze from Jack reminded him why he was there, and slowly, and haltingly, Ianto began to tell Jack about the nightmare. He told him when it had started and told him how it had changed when he moved back to Cardiff. The only thing he didn't tell Jack about the nightmare was that it now ended with Jack being killed, rather than him.

With his head resting on Jack's chest, Ianto didn't see the look of shocked recognition cross Jack's face. Jack had the presence of mind not to stop his hand moving through Ianto's hair so he managed not alert Ianto to his reaction.

Jack had a horrible suspicion he knew what was causing Ianto's nightmare, although he didn't understand why Lisa had become the subject of the nightmare when she was already dead. He could only presume it was because Ianto still wasn't fully over her yet. Jack knew now what he had to do. If it was the only thing he could for Ianto before he left, he wanted to help him get over Lisa.

He only hoped Ianto would forgive him for what he had done.


	14. Chapter 14

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 14**

Jack woke the next morning to the pleasant sensation of Ianto sleeping peacefully in his arms. Smiling down at the sleeping man, he carefully smoothed back his sleep-ruffled hair.

Despite not actually having said as much, Ianto had seemed relieved after he had told Jack about his ongoing nightmare. It had been a long time for him since he had been able to tell anyone about his dreams or nightmares. After that, he was able to settle back down to sleep and even managed to stay nightmare-free for the rest of the night.

Knowing Ianto was still asleep, Jack took the opportunity to sneak a tender kiss onto Ianto's forehead. Looking at how relaxed Ianto was, Jack nearly backed down on his resolve from last night, but he knew that he didn't want to have to lie to Ianto any more.

Ianto opened his eyes a short while later, feeling more at ease than he had felt in quite a while. He looked at Jack lying there watching him and smiled. Neither of them said anything and Ianto eventually reached up a hand and touched Jack's cheek gently.

"I felt that, you know."

A look of guilt started to cross Jack's face before he saw Ianto was still smiling. "Sorry," he said anyway.

Ianto shook his head. "It's OK, I really didn't mind." He reached his hand around a bit further to the back of Jack's head, pulled him closer and kissed him softly on the lips. "There. Now we're even."

Jack laughed quietly. "Indeed we are." He didn't try to take the kiss any further. Anything more needed to be left up to Ianto, and Jack knew he wasn't ready just yet.

Ianto closed his eyes again, still half asleep, with a half smile still on his face.

"Hey" Jack said after a few more minutes of watching him lying there. "How about I go get us some breakfast, before the others get in?"

Ianto mumbled his agreement and snuggled back into the warmth of the covers as Jack got out of bed to get dressed.

As soon as he left the Hub, Jack got out his mobile phone and made a call. He called from outside of the Hub to make sure Ianto didn't hear what he was saying, and started making various arrangements.

* * *

Later that day, when the team had finished work, they started the next round of the Torchwood basketball competition. After both sides did their fair share of cheating – Jack had picked Gwen up to put her out of reach of the ball, and Owen went up to a higher level to get the ball through the hoop – Owen's team won the game. Owen was not a particularly gracious winner and after taunting the losing team, he declared the first round of drinks on Ianto, something which Ianto good-naturedly went along with.

They had just started on their second round of drinks and were sharing work stories, when a report of a UFO sighting came through on Tosh's PDA. Jack volunteered to go back to the Hub on his own to investigate, so that the rest of the team could enjoy their drinks. He promised Ianto he would call if he thought the rest of the team would need to get involved. Ianto was initially reluctant to let him go alone, but when he saw Owen, Suzie, Tosh and Gwen enjoying themselves he agreed.

Back at the Hub Jack had to move fast. He quickly deleted the program he created that sent out the fake UFO sighting. He then disabled the CCTV cameras covering the main area of the Hub. He briefly considered ordering some pizza and a tub of coleslaw for later on, but he realised that no matter how things went down tonight, food would be the last thing on his mind. Or Ianto's.

He had just called Ianto to let him know he could handle the alert on his own, when he saw the cogwheel door start to open. Jack ran down the stairs to greet the man who entered, Doctor Ryoichi Tanizaki.

Jack escorted Tanizaki down to the lower levels, and from there to the room where he had been working on Tosh's present. Walking over to the workbench, he moved a large section of the device and revealed a hidden switch. Flicking the switch there was a low, rumbling noise sounded, and the cupboards on the back wall started to move, revealing a concealed section. A mechanical whirring noise could be heard coming through from the room beyond.

Jack paused and looked reluctantly at Tanizaki. "I did all I could. I really did. But it has to end now."

The other man just nodded and gestured at the door. Jack looked back at him once more and ushered him in. "This is Test Subject 12."

Tanizaki looked around the room in amazement. The test subject lay in the middle of the room, surrounded by what appeared to be a combination of Cyberman and Earth technology. What they had called the test subject had clearly once been a human, but was now a nearly converted Cyberman. How human it still was could not be easily determined. While its arms and legs were only partially covered with cybernetic parts, its whole head and part of its upper torso had been encased in cyber-technology.

The doctor had only seen it once before, many months ago when the near-Cyberman had been transported from London over to Cardiff. The need to keep it a secret from the rest of the Torchwood 3 team meant it was not practical for him to be at the Hub very often. Instead, he had worked remotely from his laboratories in Tokyo, using the data sent to him periodically by Jack. Even so, he was still amazed to be there. He had begun to think he would never see the test subject again nor get his chance to study or work with anything like it.

Jack had told him that there was a significant risk that the team were going to find out about what was happening, so the next phase of the experiment had to be brought forward: getting it to breathe on its own. That would mean it could be removed from the Hub, as it would no longer need to remain attached to the machinery set up in the room.

Tanizaki opened up his case and started taking equipment out. Once he had his laptop up and running, he started loading the latest data directly from the cyber unit. When he had finished going through the data, he started to prepare to disconnect the test subject.

* * *

At the pub, Ianto found himself continually looking around to see if Jack had come back yet. He had a bad feeling, like something terrible was going to happen, but he had no idea what.

After having woken up in an unusually good mood, he had felt a sudden stab of fear when Jack had left to get their breakfast. When Jack returned without anything untoward having happened, Ianto soon forgot all about it. It wasn't until later, after the basketball match, that the feelings returned, and when Jack had left them behind at the pub, those feelings intensified so sharply that he was set to forbid Jack from going anywhere at all. Not even the call from Jack to say he could take care of the UFO sighting on his own did anything to allay his fears. He bit his thumb nervously and looked around again.

Ianto felt a hand on his arm. "Ianto, is something wrong?" Tosh asked, looking at him with concern.

He shrugged. "I was thinking I should probably head back to the Hub. Jack's been awhile, he might need some help."

"Nah, he's probably just found a better prospect for the night and has forgotten all about us," Owen interjected.

Ianto smiled weakly, deliberately ignoring the irrational stab of jealousy that particular thought stirred up. "I'll go back anyway. Just in case. You lot don't have to come, you're welcome to stay here."

"That's OK, I'm done here anyway," Suzie replied. "I'll come back with you." Tosh and Gwen nodded in agreement, and Owen shrugged in reluctant acceptance.

"We'll all come then."

* * *

Jack looked up as the heart-rate monitor began flat lining.

"If she dies because of you, you know what they'll do!" Jack warned.

Tanizaki kept on working, ignoring Jack. The test subject suddenly gave a big gasp and the two men sighed in relief as it started breathing on its own.

The relief disappeared quickly as an alert came from Jack's surveillance system. He ran out of the hidden room to see that Ianto and the team were returning. He let Tanizaki know what was happening and started to close the hidden room off again. As the door was closing he looked at the doctor and at the test subject, sitting on the cyber unit, unconnected to the machinery for the first time since the battle, and he wondered briefly whether it was wise to leave them alone. He put that thought out of his head because Ianto was coming back and he had to get back upstairs to be there when Ianto got back.

* * *

As they entered the Hub, everyone knew what they needed to do to investigate the sighting, so they all jumped onto their computers or phones to make the necessary checks. Jack was not in the Hub when they returned and Ianto was about to call for him over the comms when he came jogging back up from the lower levels.

Ianto looked over at Jack from within his office, but before he had a chance to say anything Jack asked if he should make them all a coffee. The loud and emphatic _"No!"_ from Owen had them all grinning as they remembered the disaster that had been Jack's last attempt at making coffee. Ianto was quick to agree with Owen.

Ianto was about to go over and make a round himself when the lights started flickering and then went off. All the computers that were switched on started flashing warning messages. Jack looked up in shock.

"What's happening?" Gwen asked.

Tosh checked her computer. "Internal power drain."

"What's causing it?"

"Something big to drain that amount of power. I'll run a system diagnostic."

"Actually..." Jack interrupted. "We've been having generator problems all evening. I was down there checking earlier. A couple of bits of cabling have come loose. I thought I'd fixed it."

Ianto and Suzie exchanged a glance. She hadn't found any issues with the generator when she was checking the building for Ianto.

"Let me have another look," Jack continued.

Ianto nodded.

"Want some help?" Gwen asked.

"I'm fine," Jack hoped he sounded more comfortable than he felt about it.

He walked off in the direction of the generator, and as soon as he was out of sight, he ran at full speed to his work room. When he got there he was shocked to the door to the hidden section had been opened again and the test subject was nowhere to be seen. Entering the hidden section, he saw the cyber unit had been switched on and then he stopped cautiously when he saw the body of Dr Tanizaki on the floor.

Switching the unit off, he looked in horror at the body. With cyber implants in his face, the test subject had clearly tried to convert the doctor while he was upstairs and failed. He needed to find out where it had gone. Jack heard heavy footsteps outside the door and spun around to see the test subject standing in the doorway.

"The upgrade failed." It declared in a cyber-voice.

Jack's blood ran cold. During the time the test subject had been at Torchwood, it had barely spoken. The few times it had actually spoken to him, it had always been with a human voice. He had always thought there was still some humanity left in it, and the rare conversations he had had with it certainly made it seem to be at least partially human, complete with human feelings and emotions. It had obviously been disguising itself though, and now that it was separated from the cyber unit, it had realised it no longer needed to maintain the disguise.

It was in fact, a fully functioning Cyberman.

* * *

Once the power appeared to be restored, the team continued to search for the supposed UFO. One by one, they began to figure out that there never had been any such report and they were starting to let Ianto know, when the lights went out again.

This time Ianto didn't hesitate to try to call Jack over the comms. There was no response.

Tosh checked her computer again. "Power's draining to the storeroom at the bottom of the building. Looking for human heat signals. We've got..."

Owen came over to look at her screen. "Two signals?"

"So assuming one's Jack..." Tosh continued.

"Who's the other?" Gwen looked at Ianto in confusion.

Tosh spoke up again. "There's something else you need to know. I've tried going back through our internal CCTV footage for the last couple of hours. Someone's turned everything off to the main Hub."

Ianto looked at Suzie again. "I'm thinking we're under attack. Security's been breached. We assume battle protocols. Owen, get everyone armed and ready. I'm going down to take a look."

"I'll come with you," Gwen offered but Ianto shook his head.

"No, I'll take Suzie. She knows the corridors down there better than the rest of us put together," he told her. And then turning to address Owen and Tosh as well, "Keep your comms open at all times. If there's any doubts, shoot first. The priority is to find Jack."

Owen handed Ianto and Suzie a gun each and then proceeded to arm the rest of the team as the two left.

* * *

Jack and the Cyberman looked at each other before Jack picked up Tanizaki's body to move it to another room. As soon as he got out into the corridor though, he heard the cyber unit being powered up again. He returned to the hidden room, still carrying the body, to see what was happening and switched it off again. The Cyberman raised a hand threateningly.

Jack jumped as he heard the surveillance system alarm go off again. He looked up to see that Ianto was on his way down with Suzie. He placed Tanizaki's body on the floor on the far side of the room, found a tarpaulin in a cupboard and covered up the body. When he had finished that, he turned around to see the Cyberman standing there, motionless, staring through the doorway at something. He stepped closer only to see Ianto standing there, looking back at the Cyberman in absolute terror.

* * *

Ianto and Suzie had gone down to the room where Jack had been working, both wondering why he wasn't at the generator, like he had said he would be. Arriving at the room, they both immediately saw the doorway through to the hidden section.

Suzie looked at Ianto in disbelief. "That wasn't on the blue prints!"

Ianto looked back at her and nodded. "I know…"

Ianto walked further into the room and any further words died away as he saw the Cyberman. Suzie came up behind him and gasped in shock as she too saw it. She started to try to contact the rest of the team on the comms just as the Cyberman started to move. It pushed them aside, knocking her over, and left the room.

Ianto was helpless to stop it. As soon as he had seen the Cyberman, he began having flashbacks to Canary Wharf, and to finding Lisa afterwards in one of the conversion units. Suzie got back to her feet and put a hand on Ianto's back. He was trembling.

"Ianto?" she said softly. The whole team knew by now about his girlfriend dying in the battle, but Suzie couldn't begin to imagine what would be going through his head at the sight of a Cyberman in the Hub.

When Ianto didn't – couldn't – respond she turned to Jack in confusion, just as the rest of the team arrived. Owen and Tosh had matching looks of dread on their faces when they saw the cyber unit.

"No! No, no, no, no!" Owen said in panic.

Gwen, who hadn't yet joined Torchwood at the time of the battle, didn't know what it was. "What the hell is it?"

"It's wrong. It's beyond wrong! It shouldn't be here!"

"Owen, calm down," Suzie was worried about what effect Owen's words would be having on Ianto.

Owen took a breath and continued. "It's the remnants of a conversion unit. This machinery turns humans into Cybermen. Is this what's draining our power?"

Ianto turned and looked at Jack in sudden understanding, and with a fair degree of hurt.

"Did you know that thing was down here?" he asked.

"I put her here," Jack replied. He was determined not to hide anything else from Ianto.

Ianto's eyes widened in disbelief, and then he realised what Jack had said.

"Her? That thing is a girl?"

"Yep."

Ianto was about to ask another question when they heard the stomping of the Cyberwoman coming back down the corridor. It paused in the doorway and stared in at them all. Then it carried on stomping its way up into the main Hub.

Suzie picked up her gun. "We've got to go, who knows what it will do up there." She refused to call the Cyberwoman a 'she'.

Jack agreed. "We've got to make sure it never gets to the outside world."

Ianto glared at Jack, but knew he was correct. He turned, left the room and the team followed him back up. Ianto made sure he kept as far away from Jack as possible.

Owen went back to the weapon armoury. Now that they knew they were dealing with a Cyberwoman, he knew the guns they had on them would be useless. He pulled out a couple of cases that held the parts of what had been very unimaginatively called their "Big One".

He and Suzie had just started assembling the gun when they heard the stomping of the Cyberwoman. They all looked up to see it standing on one of the walkways.

The Cyberwoman started to speak. "The army will be rebuilt from here. This building is suitable."

"Who are you?" Gwen asked.

"Human point two." It turned around to look at Gwen.

Jack stepped in to distract it from Gwen; he didn't want the Cyberwoman going near anyone. "So how come you look like human point one?"

"I do not understand."

"Look at yourself. Go ahead."

The Cyberwoman looked at its reflection. "The upgrade is incomplete." The Cyberwoman seemed to be distressed.

"I am... disgusting. I have... I am... wrong. I must start again. Upgrade properly."

Suddenly it started moving towards Ianto. "Ianto?" it said, using a more human-sounding voice.

Ianto froze, and nearly lost hold of his gun. The voice sounded way too familiar to Ianto.

The Cyberwoman stepped closer again and reached a hand out to Ianto but he stepped back out of its reach. When it couldn't reach Ianto, it started pressing some buttons on the side of its head, causing the faceplate to split into two halves and reveal a face behind it. The sections of the faceplate clattered to the ground as its hands returned to its sides.

"Ianto," it said again.

Ianto stared in shock and felt the blood drain from his face. _How was this even possible?_ He turned and looked helplessly at the rest of the team who were watching on uneasily. They didn't know what was happening or how the Cyberwoman knew Ianto's name, but from the look on his face, Jack was beginning to work it out.

Ianto felt like the walls were closing in around him and the ground was disappearing beneath him. As he collapsed to the ground in a dead faint, he uttered one single word.

"Lisa!"


	15. Chapter 15

**A Good Man  
**

**Chapter 15**_**  
**_

_**The morning of the Battle of Canary Wharf**_

"Ianto! Hurry up! We're gonna be late for work!" Lisa banged on the bathroom door.

Listening to the answering grunt she walked away grinning. She did try not to nag him too much, but they really needed to get moving. His continual nightmares about those bloody robots taking over the world were getting worse and worse, and she knew he hadn't had much sleep at all last night, so she wasn't too surprised he was taking a while to get ready. He had certainly woken her up enough times during the night with his endless tossing and turning. Recently, she had begun to wonder if she had done the right thing in convincing him not to tell anyone else about the nightmares. Maybe someone else could have helped him more than she had been able to.

Lisa smiled in admiration when Ianto finally emerged from the bathroom. He looked his usual handsome and immaculate self. It didn't matter how long they had been together, seeing him dressed in his smart suits, he could still take her breath away. You would never be able to tell from looking at him how little sleep he had actually had the previous night.

Entering the kitchen, where she was sitting, he leant down and kissed the top of her head.

"Morning sleepy head," she said, laughing, as once again all she got was a grunt for an answer. She watched him make their morning coffee as she served up their breakfast. She continued watching him as he took his first sip of coffee and finally seemed to wake up. Some of their friends had jokingly said Ianto's coffee was magic, and watching how it seemed to transform him in the mornings; she figured it probably wasn't that far from the truth.

"So, what's the plan for today," Ianto finally spoke.

Lisa went on to tell him what she had planned at work. Her job as an HR Assistant meant she was responsible for finding and observing people who were potentially a good fit for Torchwood. Ianto had always secretly wondered if she was the one responsible for him being approached by Torchwood, but knew that she would never be able to tell him due to the restraints placed on the HR department by Torchwood management.

On the way to work, Lisa told him of the latest developments in their wedding plans. Her parents were desperate for a big wedding for their only daughter, but Lisa was determined to keep it small. She knew it wouldn't be fair on Ianto for the venue to be overrun by all of her family and hangers-on when Ianto wouldn't have any of his own family there. As far as she was concerned, the wedding was supposed to be about the two of them, and she was doing her utmost to keep it that way.

Ianto only had his sister and her family back in Cardiff, but they hadn't seen much of each other since Ianto had moved to London, and they were not coming to the wedding. Apparently, they couldn't afford to bring both kids with them, and neither Rhiannon nor her husband, Johnny, was prepared to leave them behind.

Ianto sat there, only half-listening to Lisa as she spoke, just listening enough to be able to smile and nod at the right times. He simply couldn't get his nightmare out of his mind. After last night's nightmare particularly, he couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going to happen would occur fairly soon.

He forced himself to think of nicer things; it was Lisa's birthday on Saturday, and he had a surprise trip away planned for them. He had put a lot of effort into getting all the details of the trip just perfect for her, and he didn't want anything to go wrong.

Arriving at Torchwood, they were lucky enough to have the lift to themselves and couldn't resist a quick kiss or two. Ianto pulled away just as they came to Lisa's floor, glancing briefly in the direction of the security camera. The lift opened and they parted, agreeing to meet in the café on Lisa's floor later, for their mid-morning break.

When he got out at his floor, Ianto noticed a young girl sitting in the waiting area. He thought it strange that someone so young would be sitting there unattended in the Torchwood building. Her head turned to follow his progress as he walked past, her long brown hair falling about her shoulders. _Was that a nightdress she was wearing? _Ianto arrived at the Archives and then promptly forgot all about her.

When the Cybermen first appeared, Ianto was locked away in the Dangerous Artefacts Zone. This particular section of the building was shielded, so if any of the artefacts contained within started to react or inadvertently got set off, nothing could escape. This meant Ianto was hidden in the only area of the building where life signs could not be detected from outside, and the area that ended up being the only section of the building that was not breached by either the Cybermen or the Daleks during the battle.

The seals on all the doors seemed to lock automatically just before the fighting had begun, and Ianto tried desperately to get them open again. Lisa was out there somewhere and he couldn't do anything to help her while he was locked in.

Ianto managed to get the doors opened not long before the Cybermen and Daleks were all sucked back into the Void. Ianto immediately went looking for Lisa. He could hear people screaming everywhere and as he got closer to the conversion units, he began to despair of ever finding her alive. So much of the building was damaged, and fires were still burning in many areas. There didn't seem to be many survivors, and he came across more UNIT soldiers than he did Torchwood staff. Some of the soldiers tried to stop him, but let him go when he started struggling. He clearly wasn't injured or going to harm anyone, so they let him go as they continued their search for survivors, or for anyone who was partially converted.

Ianto found a conversion chamber that still contained someone. Looking into the chamber, he was horrified to see Lisa trapped inside, appearing to be partially converted and in absolute agony. Heedless of any danger to himself he grabbed her under her arms and started dragging her out. She was screaming, her body burning with pain.

He yelled out for someone – anyone – to help him but, unfortunately, all that did was bring him to the attention of some other soldiers. As soon as they saw what was happening they overpowered Ianto and tore Lisa out of his arms.

Ianto followed after them, refusing to let Lisa out of his sight. Lisa continued calling out to him, pleading with him to not let the soldiers hurt her.

They were taken to a makeshift examination room containing a group of scientists. Ianto didn't recognise any of them, so he couldn't tell if they were from Torchwood or from UNIT, or elsewhere. One of them ran a scanner over Lisa, who was still being held by the soldiers. Another two soldiers were holding Ianto back.

The scientist pointed towards an examination table and the soldiers manhandled Lisa onto it. Metal restraints slid into place as soon as they placed her down on the bed, causing her to start screaming again and Ianto to struggle against the grip of the soldiers even harder. One of the other scientists injected her with a sedative and her screams died away.

He turned to Ianto. "She has already been converted. There is nothing we can do for her."

"No!" Ianto screamed. "Help her! You can find a cure!"

"Those who are converted stay that way. She will not be the exception." He gestured to one of the soldiers who raised his gun and aimed it at Lisa.

"NO!" Ianto screamed again. "Help her. She's not a monster."

"I'm sorry, but there is no turning back for her now." The scientist shook his head and turned his back dismissively on Ianto.

As Ianto continued to struggle against the soldiers holding him, the soldier who had his gun pointed at Lisa, swung his gun around and aimed it at Ianto instead.

Ianto stared back at the soldier without flinching. If they were going to kill Lisa, they may as well kill him too. He couldn't bear to live without her.

But instead of firing, the soldier snarled at Ianto. "Say your goodbyes, and then get out of here."

The soldiers holding onto Ianto let him go over to Lisa, the first soldier keeping his gun trained on Ianto the whole time to make sure he didn't try anything stupid. Ianto looked at the faces of the scientists and all the soldiers, but didn't find a trace of any sympathy in any of them.

He reached out and touched Lisa's cheek lovingly. Her skin felt cold and clammy to the touch, as if she were dead already. He felt the tears running down his face, and he knew somehow that they were right. This was no longer Lisa. It may have been her body, but she didn't feel like the beautiful woman he had fallen in love with. There was no sense of humanity left within her. Ianto didn't know much about Cybermen, but his instincts told him there was one lying in front of him.

He leant over and kissed her anyway, saying his goodbyes inside his head. He didn't want to share anything he said to her with any of the people in the room. When he finished saying goodbye, he turned slowly and left the room without speaking to or looking at anyone. He hoped he would never see any of them ever again.

Walking down the corridor, Ianto saw the young girl from earlier, standing in one of the doorways looking up at him. He opened his mouth to speak to her, but found he had nothing to say. He closed his mouth and started walking again. As he turned the corner, he heard the single gun shot that signified Lisa's death and his steps faltered slightly. All the dreams they had for their life together, their weekend away, the kids they might have had, an actual family of his own, all of it, just disappeared in an instant, with one shot.

It seemed like his entire world had ended.

* * *

Ianto felt like he was floating. He felt as light as a feather and floating in a bright and happy place with his beloved Lisa. A warm, golden light surrounded them both.

They were on a picnic with some of their friends. He and Lisa were laughing and joking, and hamming it up for the camera. Their friends were taking photos of the two of them; Lisa had a hand behind Ianto's head and was making fake antennae above his head with her fingers. Once Ianto found out what she was doing, he turned around and tickled her until she surrendered and swore never to do it again. They shared a kiss as a truce and their friends took another photo.

The kiss went on and on and now their friends were no longer there. It was just Ianto and Lisa, and Lisa and Ianto. Lisa wrapped her arms around Ianto and held on tightly. Soon Ianto's entire world consisted entirely of Lisa's kiss, her arms wrapped around him and those delicious pheromones. The pheromones relaxed him and excited him at the same time. He heard someone call his name…

_Pheromones?_

Lisa didn't have pheromones. Pheromones belonged to someone else. It occurred to Ianto the arms around him were both bigger and stronger than Lisa's arms. It wasn't Lisa's lips pressed against his. The light surrounding him faded a little.

He heard someone call his name again. It wasn't Lisa's voice, it was a man's voice, it was…

_Jack!_

It was Jack kissing him. The light faded away completely, leaving him plunged in darkness.

Ianto regained consciousness with a desperate gasp for breath. It was Jack's arms that were around him, not Lisa's. He would never be in Lisa's arms again.

Pulling back from Ianto, Jack pressed a finger to his lips to stop Ianto speaking too loud. When Ianto saw where he was, he tried to sit up and get away from Jack. As soon as he did though, he immediately felt dizzy and had to stop moving.

"Whoa, stay there for a second," Jack whispered quietly but urgently. "You hit your head quite hard on the concrete when you went down. Just stay there for a bit."

"Did you kiss me?" Ianto asked angrily.

After a pause, Jack shook his head. "You were unconscious, it was just a bit of CPR, that's all."

Ianto looked at him disbelievingly but didn't push it. He looked around the Hub, disorientated.

While Ianto had been unconscious, the Hub had been sent into lock-down. After he collapsed, the Cyberwoman had begun attacking the team. Owen and Suzie had been forced to abandon assembling the big gun and run. After pulling Gwen away from the Cyberwoman's path, Owen led her off to the Autopsy Room where they hid after trying to find some other weapons that could be used against the Cyberwoman. Suzie and Tosh had headed off in the other direction to see what they could find.

Jack had refused to leave the unconscious Ianto behind and had taken the full brunt of Lisa's attack. He had been killed just after the others had left. When he revived, he saw that Lisa had disappeared and the others were still hidden. Spying Ianto lying on the ground, he dragged himself over to make sure the director was still alive. Jack was relieved to find he was still alive, just unconscious.

He pulled Ianto into his lap, and swatted at his cheek gently to try to wake him up. When that failed to have an effect, he bent down and pressed his lips to Ianto's. One thing he had discovered since becoming immortal, was that if someone was injured Jack was able to transfer some of his life force to the other person to help them recover. It only worked on people who were still alive though; he had found out the hard way he could not bring a dead person back to life.

Once Ianto woke up, and regained his equilibrium, Jack pointed over towards the big gun. They needed to finish assembling it. Ianto nodded. Jack stood up, and pulled Ianto to his feet, holding on just long enough to make sure Ianto could walk unassisted, before moving away. Ianto and Jack made their way over to the gun and carefully and quietly finished assembling it.

They heard a stomping sound come from the direction of Owen's Autopsy Room. Ianto was just about to head in that direction when the sound of a mobile phone rang out. The Cyberwoman paused in its tracks as it determined where the sound was coming from. All of a sudden, Gwen and Owen came rolling out of one of the drawers, trying to grab hold of the phone. The Cyberwoman immediately turned towards them and had just raised a hand to fire at them when Ianto called out to her.

"Lisa!"

The Cyberwoman stopped and, with one final glance at the thoroughly terrified Gwen and Owen, turned back around to head towards Ianto. Even though it was fully converted, something still caused it to respond to Ianto's voice.

It stomped back into the main area where Ianto and Jack stood waiting. Jack was holding onto the gun, ready to fire. He wasn't going to make Ianto shoot her – he had to fix this himself. Unfortunately though, the second the Cyberwoman saw the gun in Jack's arm she fired on him again. It was a full strength shot that killed him again, instantly, and the gun fell to the floor.

The Cyberwoman turned to Ianto, her hand still extended, still prepared to fire. Electricity crackled at the end of its fingers, but it didn't actually fire. It stepped closer to Ianto.

Ianto glanced quickly down at Jack on the floor at his feet; he wasn't stirring. Owen and Gwen had disappeared back into the Autopsy Room. Ianto was on his own. Reluctantly he picked up the gun.

The Cyberwoman raised its arm further, the electric crackling growing stronger. They looked at each other, both of them seemingly unable to fire on each other.

_Jack, please, wake up_, Ianto thought to himself desperately. He lowered the gun slightly. _I can't do this_.

Lisa stepped closer again. Ianto knew he had to shoot; this was a Cyberwoman standing in front of him, not Lisa.

"Ianto?" The Cyberwoman spoke with a human voice once again.

"Li…" Ianto started, but then shook his head. "You're not Lisa." Ianto tried raising the gun again to shoot the Cyberwoman, but try as he might he simply couldn't bring himself to shoot her… shoot it. The gun started to fall out of his hands. He closed eyes and lowered his head, unable to look any more. In his distress, he had missed the gasp of breath from the floor, signifying Jack reviving again.

Ianto jumped, his eyes flying open as the big gun was finally fired.

One shot was all it took, one shot to end the Cyberwoman's existence, once and for all.

* * *

_**Shortly after the Battle of Canary Wharf**_

As Ianto had left the examination room after saying goodbye to Lisa, the door closed and locked behind him. The soldier, with his gun poised ready to shoot Lisa, turned around again as two older men stepped from out of the shadows. They had been standing at the far end of the room out of sight of everyone, especially Ianto. They approached Lisa and the soldier.

"Stop right there," one of them commanded.

A look of anger crossed the soldier's face and he was about to comment that he didn't take orders from random old guys, especially ones that were such fashion disasters as these two – because after all, who wears cravats nowadays – but one look at them and the words died on his tongue. There was something about them that made his skin crawl.

Smiling grimly at Lisa, one of the men turned back to the soldier.

"Change of plan."


	16. Chapter 16

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 16**

When they heard the big gun go off, and were sure the Cyberwoman had been destroyed, the rest of the team came out cautiously from their various hiding places. They stood around the edges of the main Hub area, nobody exactly sure of what to do next. None of them were comfortable looking at Ianto and seeing the utter misery radiating from him.

He was kneeling on the floor next to the remnants of Lisa's body, crying uncontrollably. He didn't look to be physically hurt, but they all knew he was hurting nonetheless.

None of them were in any rush to make eye contact with Jack either, although that was more out of anger, rather than because of how he might happen to be feeling.

Jack had not moved since shooting the Cyberwoman. He was caught between wanting to comfort Ianto and wanting to disappear somewhere far away, never to be seen again.

He put the gun down and moved over to Ianto, who was now hunched on the floor, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ianto flinched at his touch and curled up into himself even more, trying to avoid Jack's touch. Jack reached out again, desperately wanting to do whatever he could do to comfort Ianto, but every time he touched him, Ianto shook him off. Jack refused to take the hint though, and kept trying.

"Get off me!" Ianto eventually yelled, unable to take it anymore.

"Jack!" Suzie said in warning, when Jack reached out for him again regardless.

Jack tried to take him into his arms but Ianto's miserable keening in distress spurred Owen into action. Rushing over to them, he grabbed hold of Jack and roughly pushed him away from Ianto. Suzie had followed close behind Owen, and placed herself between Ianto and Jack.

"Get away from him, you bastard!" Owen snarled. He looked over at Suzie. "Get him out of here. Put him in a cell until Ianto's ready to deal with him."

Suzie nodded and guided Jack out of the room.

Once Suzie and Jack were gone, Owen, Tosh and Gwen gathered together to discuss what to do next. They needed to look after Ianto, but knew they had to deal with the remnants of the Cyberwoman and the cyber technology downstairs. They decided to send Tosh to stay with Ianto, figuring she would be the least threatening to him in the state he was in.

She gently encouraged him to his feet and, putting her arm around him, went to lead him over to the sofa. Ianto stood up at her prompting, but stopped moving as he turned back to look at Lisa once more.

"Don't worry Ianto, we'll take care of her," Gwen said gently. "I promise."

Ianto looked from her to Owen and back again and nodded.

As they were walking over to the sofa, Ianto stopped to pick up the two sections of the faceplate Lisa had dropped earlier. He was horrified to see they were not actual cyber technology, but were in fact man-made. Someone had custom-made them to deliberately fit over her face. He dropped them to the floor again, unable to touch them any longer.

Tosh sat Ianto down and poured him a stiff drink to try and calm his nerves a little. He sat on the sofa and stared blankly into the distance. Tosh sat next to him and placed a comforting arm around him, but didn't try to say anything, knowing that he wasn't ready to talk yet.

Owen and Gwen cleaned up as much as they could. Once Suzie returned, the three of them started moving Lisa's body to the Autopsy Room. Suzie and Gwen then cleaned the rest of the mess while Owen worked on the body.

Owen removed as much of the cyber technology from Lisa's arm and face as he could, and removed the bloodstains. He then dressed the body in a hospital gown and tidied her up. The body would eventually be incinerated, but Owen knew that Ianto would need to see her again for himself before that happened. After having believed once already that she was dead, only to have her appear again, and in such a terrible way, he would need to be able to reassure himself that she really was dead this time.

Once they were done, they all walked over to Tosh and Ianto to let him know they were finished.

"Are all of you OK? Did she hurt any of you?" It was the first time Ianto had spoken since he yelled at Jack.

"We're fine Ianto," Tosh answered for them all.

Ianto nodded in acknowledgement but then resumed staring into space again.

"Ianto," Suzie knelt in front of him to get his attention again. "We've finished with the bo… with Lisa. We'll need to cremate her."

Ianto focused on Suzie for a moment. He hadn't thought that far ahead yet, all he could see, over and over again, was Lisa dying when Jack shot her, and he couldn't think of anything else.

"Cremate her?" Ianto looked lost.

"Yes," Owen said. "I'm sorry mate but we can't risk anything else. Not with this sort of technology."

Ianto looked at the floor. "Where is she?"

"Still in Autopsy."

Ianto looked at the three women. "You guys should go home, it's getting late."

"Are you sure Ianto?" Gwen asked. "We can stay and help."

"I'm sure," he said tiredly. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Besides, I'm sure Rhys is probably wondering where you are by now."

Suzie, Tosh and Gwen slowly gathered their stuff and left for the night.

* * *

While Ianto was with Lisa, Owen took some food and drink down to Jack. As soon as he saw Owen coming, Jack stood up.

"How is he?"

"Get back from the door." Owen ignored Jack's question.

"Owen, please." Jack stood back from the door while Owen placed the tray on the end of the bed. He didn't move again until after Owen had relocked the cell.

"Let me out Owen, please. He needs me. He'll have such bad nightmares without me."

"Yeah, 'cause he really **needs** someone who experimented on his supposedly dead girlfriend's body!" Owen didn't even try to hide his disgust and stormed off.

Ianto spent the night in Jack's bunker. Owen decided to stay at the Hub, rather than leave Ianto alone. He slept on the sofa so that he could hear Ianto if he needed anything.

In the early hours of the morning, Ianto had a bad nightmare. When Owen found him, he was huddled at the far end of the bed and was screaming over and over. Owen tried to wake him up, but in his terror, Ianto kept pushing him away, unable to distinguish Owen from whatever it was that was attacking him in his dream. Shaking him had no effect, and Owen was beginning to tire from Ianto continually fighting him off. Ianto's screams eventually subsided, but he was still caught in the nightmare and was muttering something repeatedly. Owen realised he was calling for Jack.

Owen went down to the cells and explained what was going on. He stared at Jack hard. "You'd better not mess me around. I'm only letting you out for Ianto's sake. I can't get him out of this nightmare and he's in danger of hurting himself. Any funny business and you're going straight back into the cell."

Jack nodded. Owen frowned and reluctantly let Jack out. Jack took off at full speed, anxious to get to Ianto. When they got back to Jack's bunker Ianto was huddled into a ball in the corner of the bed, still trying to get away from whatever he thought was coming after him. Jack reached out and tentatively put a hand on Ianto. Ianto instinctively huddled in on himself even further.

Jack spoke to him softly, reassuring him he wasn't alone, urging him to wake up. Jack kept on talking to him calmly and steadily, and eventually he was able to put his hand back on Ianto's shoulder without him reacting. Jack slowly got closer to Ianto and started rubbing his hand in soothing circles on Ianto's back while stroking his other hand through Ianto's hair. Ianto's breathing gradually slowed down and Jack started pulling Ianto closer to him. Eventually he got Ianto leaning against him and he rested Ianto's head against his chest, holding him firmly. Rocking him gently, Jack started singing the same Boeshani lullaby he had sung to Ianto on the first night he had calmed Ianto down after one of his nightmares.

By the time the lullaby was finished, Ianto's breathing had returned to normal and he appeared to be sleeping normally again. Jack laid him down carefully on the bed. Standing, he covered him up and placed a tender kiss on his forehead. Jack looked down at him longingly. He wanted to get in the bed next to Ianto and hold him all night. Jack reached down and was about to run his fingers through Ianto's hair again, when Ianto opened his eyes and looked up at him. Jack looked back at him.

"I'm so sorry Ianto. I really didn't know it was her. She would tell me stories about her gorgeous boyfriend all the time, but I never had any idea it was you she was talking about."

Ianto said nothing, he looked at Jack a bit longer and then rolled over, deliberately turning his back on Jack. Jack could hear Owen shuffling around behind him and looked around to see Owen watching him uneasily.

"I have to go, but please, please, Ianto. I hope you will forgive me."

Owen had stood back while Jack spoke to Ianto, to give them some level of privacy, and glanced around him. He had been down in Jack's bunker several times before, and every time he had been there, the place had looked like a bomb had hit it. Jack had never been renowned for being particularly tidy and Owen was surprised to see the place looked a lot neater than he had ever seen.

Glancing at Ianto and Jack, he went to the bunker's bathroom to get Ianto a glass of water. As he walked back, he was surprised to see two of Ianto's suits hanging neatly at one end of Jack's wardrobe. He guessed that explained a bit about Ianto's response to Jack when he was trying to coax him out of the nightmare.

"Alright Jack, it's time to take you back."

Jack stood up and reluctantly allowed Owen to herd him up the ladder and back to the cell.

* * *

When Jack woke up in the morning he saw a shadow from the corner of his eye. He sat up to see Ianto sitting on the floor outside his cell, slumped against the glass wall. His head was leaning against the glass door while he waited for Jack to wake up. Jack went and sat down on the opposite side of the glass.

"Ianto?" Jack said softly.

Ianto stirred and looked through the cell door at Jack. He had obviously not slept much after Jack had been brought back to the cell. His eyes were red and sore, and when he spoke, his voice was very hoarse.

"You said she spoke to you, told you stories about me. What did she say?"

Jack looked at the ground as he thought back to some of his conversations with Lisa.

"She loved you very much," Jack began. "She thought you were one of the handsomest men she had ever met. There was one suit of yours in particular that would take her breath away every time you wore it. It was the black one with grey pinstripes."

"I wore that on my first day here," Ianto murmured softly. Tears shone in his eyes.

"She said that you had always said you didn't love her for what she looked like. Last time you said that, it was a Saturday. You were both hung-over. You made cheese toasties, and moaned she hadn't de-scaled her kettle." Jack sighed and continued on.

She told me that night, you camped on a beach in Brittany. It got so freezing you wore your coats and shared one sleeping bag. When you woke up the next morning…" He paused, an embarrassed grin on his face.

"…a dog was pissing on our tent," Ianto finished, the tears flowing freely now. "I'd have given anything to be able to speak to her again."

"Ianto, I'm so sor…"

"No! Stop saying that Jack. I… I… I just can't deal with any more of your damned lies right now."

Ianto got to his feet. "I don't even know why I came down here." Ianto turned around and walked out, before Jack could see him break down completely.

Jack didn't move for a very long time, he just sat there and leant his forehead against the glass where Ianto's was just a few minutes before.

* * *

"I don't understand though Jack."

Ianto came back a bit later, after he had calmed himself down somewhat. Jack had moved back to the bed.

"Why would you even do something like this? Even ignoring who she was. You've been out in the universe; you've seen the damage they can do. Why, Jack? Why would you do something so stupid?"

Jack looked up at Ianto, wondering what he could say. What could he do to make this better for Ianto? Jack lowered his head again as he thought back to how this had all started.

* * *

_**One month after the Battle of Canary Wharf - Cardiff**_

The Torchwood team were responding to an alert. Tosh had seen some reports come in about monstrous looking creatures that had appeared from nowhere. She showed the reports to Suzie, who decided the four of them should all go to investigate. Gwen was still a month away from joining Torchwood.

Five Weevils had come out of the sewers and were behaving oddly. The fact that they were in a shopping centre car park in the middle of the day was unusual enough, but the fact that they were just standing around doing nothing was even stranger. The Weevils may not have actually been doing anything while they were there, but their appearance alone was enough to cause panic. The team had to get out there and subdue the Weevils, before the panic became so widespread that they would have to Retcon most of the city.

It was only when the team arrived that the Weevils started to react. They separated into three groups, which forced the team to split up to take care of them all. Tosh and Suzie went after a smallish trio; Owen went after one of the remaining Weevils while Jack was left chasing the biggest and strongest one.

The one that Jack had gone after suddenly started running away from the shopping centre, and Jack lost sight of the rest of the team as he chased after it. After the Weevil turned up an empty street, Jack was surprised to see it suddenly collapse. He ran up to the Weevil and leant over it to see what had happened. He had just seen a tranquilliser dart sticking out of its neck when he felt a sharp sting at his neck. He lifted his hand up to find a dart sticking out of his own neck. As his vision started to blur, and he started to fall to the ground, he saw two of his worst nightmares come and stand over him.

When Jack awoke, he found himself handcuffed and tied to a chair that was bolted to the floor. He looked around him and saw straight away he was inside a large glass tank. Jack sighed; he remembered this tank only too well. This was the tank where Emily Holroyd and Alice Guppy had played one of their favourite games, How Many Times Can We Drown Jack In One Day, all those years ago. He looked up to the top of the tank, and sure enough, there it was: a hose draped over the top corner, ready to fill the tank with water. He was surprised the tank was still in one piece – he had thought it destroyed when it was removed from the Hub, after he had signed the contract with them.

Jack only barely managed to conceal a laugh as the two committee members from earlier came into the room. Hundreds of years of the committee and they _still_ wore cravats.

"Hello freak," one of them sneered.

"You know, sneering isn't a good look on you!" Jack retorted, shaking his head defiantly.

"I'd watch your mouth if I was you," the second man replied.

"Why? What're you going to do? Kill me? Think we've been there before!"

"We have a file here," the first one said, holding up a folder.

"Wow!" Jack said with a sarcastic grin. "You lot have always got files. You couldn't live without them."

"We have a job for you to do."

"Sorry, not interested."

"That's alright, if you won't take this file, we have another one here that we can use for our own… pleasure."

The second man handed a folder to the first man who held it up to Jack. The smile fell off his face immediately when he saw the photo attached to the front of the file. It showed a young blond-haired boy holding the hand of his mother, a woman with short, dark, curly hair. A chill ran through him.

"Alice Carter, formerly Alice Sangster, formerly Melissa Moretti, and her son Steven Carter. Lots of names there, freak, but never once a Harkness. How does it feel knowing your own daughter refuses your name?"

Jack said nothing, any smart-mouthed replies forgotten as he waited to see what the threat against his family would be. He stared steadily back at the two men.

"What, no reply? Cat got your tongue?"

The second man joined the first one, standing closer to the tank.

"He's looking a bit dry there, don't you think?" he asked the first man. "Want a drink freak?"

The men looked at each other and nodded.

The first one spoke again. "If you don't want to co-operate we might have to use a bit of persuasion." He pressed a button and water started flowing through the hose into the tank. "There, have a drink, while we go off and decide how much… fun… we can have with your daughter and grandson if you don't do this job for us."

Jack continued staring back at the men before looking up at the hose again. He wasn't afraid of drowning, but he was afraid of what the committee might do to Alice and Steven if he didn't cooperate. Unlike him, there was no coming back for them. He didn't have any idea how the committee had even found out about them. His daughter's identification, after her mother had left Torchwood, should have been undetectable. Even by Torchwood. _Especially_ by Torchwood.

"OK, OK!" he burst out. "Whatever it is, I'll do it."

The men smiled smugly at each other. They hadn't actually expected the freak to capitulate quite so quickly. He must really care about that family of his; that was something they would need to remember for future use.

The first one switched the water off and allowed it to drain from the tank before flicking the switch that would raise the glass off the ground and release Jack. They brought him over to a table and started spreading out the contents of the original file. Jack looked at it in horror.

"Are you out of your minds?" he yelled. "Have you not seen what these things can do?"

The men looked back at him.

"We know exactly what we are doing!"

Jack shook his head in despair. "No, I don't think you do," he said quietly, more to himself than to them.

He looked at the file again and pieced together what the committee had done.

After the battle, they had come across a number of partially converted Cybermen. Deciding they wanted to keep the technology for themselves, the committee tried to stabilise them themselves. They were eventually forced to bring in a cybernetics expert from Japan though, after most of the subjects had died before they could do anything with them.

A month out and Test Subject 12 was now fully stabilised, but still unable to be disconnected from the equipment and survive. With the remnants of the Torchwood London building due for demolition, the committee needed to find a safe and reliable power source somewhere else. This was where Jack and Torchwood Cardiff came into the equation.

The committee decided to relocate the test subject to Cardiff, where Jack was to ensure it remained safely hidden and he was also to keep working towards making it independent of the equipment. Once that was done, the committee would take over. The file didn't say what they intended to do after that happened.

"What are you going to do with it once it is off the machinery?" Jack asked.

"None of your business!" the second one replied. "The test subject will be brought to you tomorrow. Your team will get another Weevil alert just after lunch, so make sure you stay behind. You better make sure you have a hidden area set up for us before we get there."

Jack nodded. With the conversation apparently over, the men released Jack and escorted him out of the building. The men didn't want Jack around them any longer than necessary.

"Oh, and one more thing," one of them called out. "If something happens, the committee isn't involved in this."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, puzzled.

"I mean exactly that. If something happens, if you or the test subject gets found out, the committee will deny all knowledge of this matter. If you are found out, it's all on your head. You'll have a new owner coming soon and if this person finds out about it somehow, we are not taking the blame."

"And how do you expect me explain this away, if I can't say where it came from?"

"We don't care. It's up to you to decide how to handle it. I guess you better pray they never find out. He or she might not be very forgiving of you for harbouring a Cyberman!" The men smirked knowingly at each other.

"What will happen if I do tell them? How will you even know?" Jack asked.

The second man held up Alice's file and brandished it at Jack. "Do we really need to answer that?"

* * *

Jack roused himself from his thoughts. He looked over at Ianto who was still standing there waiting for a response. Ianto's face was carefully blank, and Jack couldn't tell if he was waiting patiently, or waiting angrily, for Jack to reply.

But what could Jack tell him? The committee had made it perfectly clear what would happen if Jack told anyone the truth. Was the life of his daughter and grandson worth risking for a potential relationship with someone he might be leaving behind soon anyway? What choice did he really have?

"Ianto, you have to believe me, I'm sorry for what happened to Lisa, but I can't tell you any more. I swear I never intended to hurt you. I didn't even know anything about you when this all started."

"When this all started? So, she's been here the whole time, and you didn't tell me. Even knowing what had happened to my girlfriend, what happened to me? Not even after we started to…" Ianto trailed off.

"Ianto, trust me, I…"

"Trust you?" Ianto interjected. He laughed bitterly. "I don't bloody think so! The last thing I'm going to do is trust you Jack Harkness!"

Ianto turned away from the cell, not wanting to see the look of sadness on Jack's face. He needed to not see him any more. In fact, right now, he would be happy if he didn't have to see Jack ever again.

For an offence like this, execution or retcon would normally be the options. But execution wouldn't work for Jack, and Ianto couldn't risk retconning Jack either. He rubbed his arm where the committee had injected the tracker. If Jack was retconned and decided to leave Cardiff, for whatever reason, it would set the tracker off. He could keep him in the cell and leave him there to rot, but he knew the others would not take kindly to that. He could imagine Gwen arguing with him over that sort of decision even now.

Ianto took a deep breath, turned back to the cell and opened the door. Jack looked at him.

"I want you out of here. As of now, you are on an indefinite suspension. I'll escort you back upstairs where you will pack your things and then leave the Hub. While you are on suspension, you will not leave Cardiff and you will not return to the Hub until I say you can. Do you understand?"

Jack looked at Ianto. "But where will I go? Everything I have is here."

"Wherever, anywhere, just as long as it's not here. You can sleep in the fucking streets for all I care!"

Jack didn't say any more. He could see that Ianto was barely keeping it together and didn't want to make it any worse by provoking him any further.

Ianto took Jack back up to the main Hub and, ignoring the stares from the rest of the team who had just arrived for the day, they went into Jack's bunker so he could pack a bag.

When that was done, they went back out and Ianto told the team of his decision. They all looked shocked, especially when he told them Jack would not be at the Hub whilst he was on suspension.

"But you can't do that!" Gwen exclaimed. "This is his home!"

"I've made my decision Gwen."

Owen reached a hand out and placed it on Gwen's arm in warning when she opened her mouth to argue further.

"Leave it," he said quietly.

"But he…"

"Gwen! Enough!"

Gwen glared at Owen, but he ignored her. He knew Ianto would need some space, and some time, to get over this. It would be hard enough for him to deal with as it was, let alone having to face Jack everyday as well. He was surprised by Ianto's decision, but knew he had done the right thing.

When no one else said anything, Ianto stalked off and shut himself in his office, locking the door firmly behind him.

Jack said goodbye to the others and, with one last, regretful glance towards Ianto's office, he turned and left the Hub.


	17. Chapter 17

**A Good Man  
**

**Chapter 17**

Jack got back up to the Plass and stopped, temporarily at a loss. 110 years of either being imprisoned in or living in the Hub, 110 years of waiting to find out what he needed to know so that he could be free, and now that he was suddenly cut off from it all, he didn't know what to do. All of Cardiff was now open to him, but where would he go? He'd grown accustomed to the Hub; it was his home.

He had no family he could stay with. Alice and Steven were his only living family in this time, but Alice had made it quite clear that he was to stay away, no matter what. She didn't want to risk anyone knowing the link between them and Jack. She was a mother after all, and her only priority was to protect her son. She didn't want him to get mixed up in Jack's world. Jack wasn't even welcome at things like Steven's birthday parties anymore; she was that paranoid about what might possibly happen.

Jack stood watching the people moving around him, getting on with their lives. Their plain, boring and so wonderfully normal lives. A life he could never have. He looked briefly up at the water tower and wondered if Ianto was watching him on CCTV.

Suddenly angry at the whole situation, he decided that perhaps he should just leave Cardiff for good. Put Torchwood behind him and just move on. Ianto had made it perfectly clear he didn't want him there, and didn't trust him. If he did go back to Torchwood once his suspension had been served, exactly how was Ianto going to treat him anyway? And if the committee came down on Ianto over the Cyberwoman incident, Jack just knew that Ianto would take it out on him.

He walked over to the roadside and hailed a taxi. He gave the driver some directions, and began to plan what he needed to do before he got out of Cardiff. Ianto would continue to take care of Flat Holm Island for him, but there was Alice and Steven to consider. He had been sending them money regularly, especially after that loser Joe had walked out on them, but if he left that would stop. He would need to make arrangements for something more substantial.

As the driver pulled out into the traffic and headed off to the destination Jack had requested though, other thoughts began to cross his mind.

On the day the committee had injected the tracker into Ianto, Jack had promised him he wouldn't hurt him, and that he wouldn't leave without permission. Despite how angry Jack was, he still didn't want to hurt Ianto, well not any more than he already had at least. He knew how painful it would be for Ianto if the tracker got set off by Jack leaving. The tracker had been set off once before, when he got too far from a previous director. She didn't survive.

Thoughts of the committee made Jack pause. Surely, they would know by now that the Cyberwoman was dead. Would they follow through with their threats against Alice and Steven, now that Jack had failed to do what they had asked and keep the Cyberwoman hidden?

Jack remembered also that his Vortex Manipulator was still locked away in the Secure Archives. If he left now, he would lose what little chance he had of ever getting it back. The thought of having to hide from Torchwood for another 3000 years, until he caught up with a timeline that could fix or repair his wrist strap seemed a bit too much to bear at that particular moment.

Jack banged on the partition that separated him from the driver and gave him new directions. He ended up in a suburb a few miles away from Torchwood and stopped outside a house he knew should be empty. Paying the driver and waiting for him to pull away, he opened up the letterbox and took out an envelope that was there. It appeared to be a letter addressed to someone at that house, but Jack knew it would contain the key to a shed around the back.

Entering the shed he quickly found the safe and, praying the combination hadn't been changed, he tried opening it. Jack almost sighed in relief when the safe opened first go. Inside the safe were various types of alien money, but Jack was after a particular envelope that was at the back of the safe. It contained Earth money and, more importantly, a key to the house.

The house was a safe house owned by a community of mostly humanoid aliens that were living peacefully in Cardiff. Torchwood didn't know about this community of aliens, and Jack certainly had no intention of letting them know. The aliens were all refugees from various planets and regimes that would have them executed should they ever return.

None of them were a threat to Earth, they just wanted to live out their lives in peace. On occasion Jack had introduced new aliens to the community, not wanting them to be caught by Torchwood. In gratitude for this, they had always said that if he ever needed a place to stay it was his for as long as he needed it. Until now, he had never had to take them up on their offer.

* * *

Ianto had indeed been watching Jack on the CCTV.

He felt torn. On one hand, he was so angry with Jack for doing something as potentially dangerous as harbouring a Cyberwoman in the base. On the other hand, as soon as Jack had known what Ianto's nightmare was about, and what was causing it, he had done whatever he could to put an end to it. Unfortunately for all of them, it hadn't gone quite to plan.

A while later, Ianto heard the others moving around in the Hub, and he knew he would have to speak to them sooner or later. He got up and loudly unlocked his office door, then went back to his desk and sat down again. With a grim smile, he took off his watch and placed it on the desk in front of him and waited. Sure enough, exactly one minute later, Gwen came bursting into his office, ignoring the still-closed door, and sat herself down on the chair opposite Ianto.

Ianto looked at her coolly.

"How could you do this to him?" she demanded. "You can't just kick someone out of his home just because he made one simple mistake…"

Ianto looked out his office door, and felt his attention wander. Strangely, he seemed to be doing this more and more whenever Gwen started one of her speeches. He knew it wasn't displaying very good leadership skills, but he couldn't help himself.

He knew that Gwen was the only one in the team who hadn't experienced the effects of the Cyberman attack fully, which made her the only one who didn't fully understand the danger Jack had put the entire planet in with his actions. When they were talking about the Cyberman attack one time Gwen had revealed that she and her boyfriend had previously believed the terrorism story.

"My boyfriend says it's like a sort of terrorism," she had told them. "Like they put drugs in the water supplies - psychotropic drugs, causing mass hallucinations and stuff."

For Gwen, finding out the truth about the attack was very much an eye-opener for her, but even now, she still didn't appreciate the full implications of a Cyber invasion.

Looking back towards Gwen, she showed no signs of stopping. She was so caught up in her defence of Jack, she hadn't even realised Ianto had not been paying attention.

"Gwen!" Ianto had finally heard enough. "I told you earlier I have already made my decision. What Jack did was put the entire planet, actually the entire universe, in so much danger. I can't just let that go with a slap on the wrist."

"But Ianto…"

"No! He'll serve his suspension, and then we'll see what happens." Ianto placed his hands on his desk and stood up.

Gwen stood up with him.

Ianto looked out the door. "The others seem to be getting ready to go for lunch, I suggest you go with them."

Gwen opened her mouth to say something more but after taking a look at Ianto, she turned and left without another word.

When the team came back from lunch, Tosh knocked on his office door. She placed a takeaway cup of coffee on his desk.

"I brought you a coffee. No one ever gets you a coffee."

Ianto looked up at her. "Is this where I get my next lecture about how badly I've treated Jack?"

Tosh looked genuinely shocked. "No, no, it's just coffee. I don't want you to feel you're alone."

Ianto nodded noncommittally. "Thanks," he said.

Tosh walked to the door and stopped. "I will say one thing though. If it hadn't have been for Jack giving me a chance, after I had made a mistake, I could have been locked away forever. I just hope he gets the same chance."

Ianto nodded again, but before he could say anything Tosh had walked through the door and out of his office. Two down, two to go, he thought to himself.

Not long afterwards, a rift alert came through. Suzie looked at the reports and let Ianto know what was happening. Ianto sent the four of them out, telling Suzie she was temporarily in charge of field missions.

They came back quite a while later, Gwen and Owen both grumbling about how the mission had gone. No one had been killed or injured during the alert, but it had taken the team a while to sort out what had been happening.

Two aliens had fallen through the rift, but a rescue team from their planet had tracked them down and was attempting to transport them back to their own planet. This was causing the rift breach to stay open. The Torchwood team were unable to communicate with the aliens, so they had no way of knowing what was actually happening. To them it appeared the aliens were deliberately keeping the rift open.

Owen and Gwen were of the opinion the aliens were trying to send more through, and Owen was itching to get a little trigger-happy. Luckily, Tosh managed to scan the aliens' equipment in time and realised what they were actually trying to do. She was able to boost their signals and helped get the two aliens back to their own kind.

As they piled back into the SUV afterwards Gwen commented that the whole thing would have gone much more smoothly if Jack had been there, because he would have known what they were trying to do. Tosh and Suzie sat in the back of the SUV, steadfastly ignoring the grumbling from the two in the front.

Suzie headed up to Ianto's office to give him a report, and she mentioned Gwen's concerns that the mission would have been completed quicker if Jack had been there.

Ianto nodded silently, refusing to be drawn in. He waited for Suzie to say more, but was surprised when she just got up and left after completing her report to him.

That left one more person to come and say their bit about Jack.

Owen waited until the end of the day, and for the rest of the team to leave, before he made his way up to Ianto's office. They stared steadily at each other.

Owen broke the silence first. "How's your head?"

Ianto smiled ruefully. "Still hurts a bit."

"That surprises me a bit. Didn't think anything could get through that thick Welsh head of yours!" Owen grinned at Ianto, letting him know he wasn't being serious.

"Hey!" Ianto said in mock anger.

Owen stopped smiling and sat down. "You know about Katie, right?" he began hesitantly.

Ianto nodded. He seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

"When Katie died," Owen continued, "and no one would believe me about what had happened, I was so angry at Jack. I blamed him totally for Katie's death. I didn't know who he was, or what he did, but that day I saw him standing there at the cemetery, just standing there watching me, something inside me snapped. I ran over to him as fast as I could, and just started laying into him. But no matter how many times I punched him, he didn't hit me back. He just stood there, or lay there, and took it all. And then when I had finally exhausted myself, and I just couldn't hit him any more, he brought me back here. He showed me all the wonderful things Torchwood could be, told me of what I could possibly achieve here.

"And see, that's the thing about Jack, he might not do what you want him to do, he might not tell you all he knows, but he does what's needed. He picked me up and got me back on track, he could do the same for you.

"I saw your stuff down in his rooms, so I'm pretty sure there's more going on between the two of you than any of us knows, but don't let this get in the way. If you let him, I think he can save you too."

Ianto stared down at his desk, unable to look at Owen. He'd done enough crying lately, and he didn't want to do it again, not in front of Owen. Luckily for Ianto though, Owen understood well enough. He got up and started to walk around to Ianto's side of the desk. He held out a medicine bottle.

"Here, this'll help you sleep."

Ianto took the bottle without a word.

As Owen left the office, he turned back with a grin. "Oh, and if you ever tell Jack I said that, I'll retcon you both!" Owen was relieved to see it had the right effect as Ianto gave a slight grin in return.

"Get out of here!"

* * *

Jack spent the first week of his suspension pottering around the house, enjoying not having to work each day. He borrowed a car and drove past Alice's house and Steven's school a few times. He wanted to make sure no one was after them, and needed the reassurance of seeing them for himself, to make sure they were alright.

Gwen came to have lunch with him a few times, which concerned him at first, not wanting Torchwood to know about this place, but when she told him she had gotten Tosh to track him down, it all made sense. There wasn't much Tosh couldn't track down once she put her mind to it, he thought with pride.

They talked about things going on in Gwen's life, she told him stories about Rhys and his friends, and she told him about what was happening at Torchwood. They both carefully avoided any mention of Ianto and the Cyberwoman.

None of the others came to see him, although Gwen passed on greetings from both Tosh and Suzie every now and then.

He wondered how Ianto was coping.

* * *

"Jack!"

Ianto sat up in bed, looking wildly around him, but Jack wasn't there.

Ianto flopped back down onto his pillow and closed his eyes. That was the third time he had woken from a dream calling out for Jack since he had suspended him. But, judging by how tight his pyjama bottoms felt, they at least seemed to be "good" dreams for once.

That day he was very quiet and withdrawn at work, and as with Jack's first day of suspension, he spent most of the day shut away in his office. At lunchtime he didn't eat with the rest of the team, instead he grabbed some food, left the boardroom without looking at anyone and went back to his office to eat there.

When he emerged from his office next, Tosh was the only one around as the rest of the team were out on a rift alert.

He went and stood quietly behind Tosh. "Do you know where he is?"

Tosh carefully hid a smile and, lifting up some files, she took out a piece of paper with an address on it. She didn't need to ask whom he was talking about.

"You need to go and get him," she told him. "Not just for the team, but for yourself as well."

Ianto didn't say anything, just pocketed the slip of paper and went back to his office.

* * *

During the second week of his suspension, Jack's patience ran out. He had had enough of sitting around waiting for Ianto to decide whether he could or couldn't return to the Hub. He was going to go out, have some fun, and get himself thoroughly shagged for the first time since the director had come to Torchwood.

He ended up at a pub he knew was run by one of the aliens in the community that owned the safe house. Josh Clements, the bartender and owner, came from a highly empathic race, which made him excellent at his job and popular with both humans and aliens alike.

Jack had discovered him one night when he was out on a rift alert on his own. He knew he came from a peaceful race, and certainly didn't deserve to fall into Torchwood's hands. Jack took some debris that had come through the rift with him, and reported that back to Torchwood instead. He then helped Josh get set up with the alien community in Cardiff.

Jack sat at the public bar most of the night. There was another room out the back, that was locked to the public. It was used by the aliens that could not pass as human. Jack was allowed back there, as he was known to be friendly to them, and he had spent many nights back there. Tonight though, he wanted to stick with humanoids.

He ended up talking to Josh most of the night. He checked out a lot of people, and a whole lot of people checked him out too. Some of them bought him drinks, and he bought drinks for others himself. But he never left the bar; somehow, none of them were quite what he was looking for.

Towards the end of the night, he gave up. He went over to one of the now-empty booths and sat down, his back to the door. He found himself thinking about dark hair and blue eyes and beautiful Welsh vowels.

Josh paused in wiping down tables and came and spoke to Jack. "Are you going to tell me why you're really here?"

Jack smiled. It was pointless trying to keep his feelings secret from Josh. He shrugged. "I'm just looking for someone. The right someone."

Josh stood up as the door opened. "Maybe that someone has arrived," he said pointing.

Jack turned to see Ianto standing in the doorway watching them both intently.

Josh felt the same emotions radiating off Ianto that he had felt from Jack during the night. Ianto looked at him quizzically as he was reading his emotions. Josh was surprised, he realised that Ianto had strong empathic abilities and even though he could not tell Josh was reading him, he could still tell something was happening. Josh hadn't sensed such strong abilities in a very long time, especially not in a human.

"Can I get you something?" he asked Ianto.

"A beer, thanks." As Josh walked away, Ianto asked Jack if he could sit down.

Jack pointed to the seat opposite. Ianto sat, neither of them saying anything while waiting for Josh to bring Ianto's drink back. When Josh placed the drink on the table Ianto got out his wallet to pay, but Josh waved him off.

"Don't worry about it – I've put it on his tab," Josh gestured at Jack. He walked away, allowing the two men their privacy.

"So how did you find me? I know Gwen knows where I'm staying, but how did you find this place?"

"I… err… followed you."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "You mean you've been out there all night? Why didn't you come in sooner?"

Ianto shrugged, "I didn't want to interrupt, if you'd managed to pull someone. I know you have a reputation to keep."

They grinned knowingly at each other.

"Jack…"

"Ianto…"

They grinned again as they both spoke at the same time. Ianto waved at Jack to go first.

Jack placed his hand carefully over Ianto's, and was both relieved that he didn't pull away and disappointed that he didn't respond or return his grip.

"Ianto, I know you don't want me to apologise anymore, but I am truly, truly, sorry that it was Lisa back there. I can't tell you why it happened, but I can promise you it is all over." Jack turned Ianto's hand over and tapped a finger gently on his wrist where the tracker had been injected. "You and I both know that I don't always have a choice in what I do."

Ianto looked up at Jack, nodding his head in acknowledgement. The forlornness in his blue eyes made Jack's heart skip a beat.

Ianto suddenly pulled his hand out of Jack's grasp, stood up and told him he could return to the Hub on Monday. Before Jack could reply though, Ianto walked away and left the pub.

Jack could read between the lines: Ianto had forgiven him, but still didn't trust him. He sighed. Things were not yet one hundred percent fixed between them, but it was a start.


	18. Chapter 18

**A Good Man  
**

**Chapter 18**

By the end of Jack's suspension, Ianto was relieved to find that his recurring nightmares of Lisa rampaging through the Hub seemed to have faded away for good. He still had his fair share of nightmares, just as he'd had throughout his entire life, but there were no more of the terrifying nightmares that woke him screaming from his sleep.

At first, effectively losing Lisa a second time had left him feeling empty, terribly so. He would sit there at night, just staring into space, with no desire to do anything. Jack was gone, Lisa was gone, truly gone this time – Owen had cremated the body and Ianto had interred the ashes in the Torchwood mortuary himself – and Ianto was left on his own once again.

He also felt a large amount of guilt. For eight months he had attempted to get on with his life; starting his new job, forging new friendships, growing closer to Jack, when all the time Lisa, or what was left of her, had gone through who knows what, shut away, down in Jack's hidden room. That was in addition to whatever else she had gone through beforehand in London. He was the one who had left her behind in that room.

He wasn't angry with Jack any longer, he understood that subtle hint at the pub, and he knew that if the committee were involved in anyway, Jack would have had little choice. It still stung though, that despite how close he and Jack had seemed to be getting, Jack still hadn't felt able to confide in him. And if the committee had gotten to him once, what was there to say that they wouldn't be able to do it again. How could Ianto ever hope to trust him knowing that?

Ianto stopped socialising with the others during Jack's suspension. He knew Gwen was pissed off with him for kicking Jack out of the Hub, and while Tosh and Owen were understanding of why he did it, they still preferred to have Jack there with them. He wasn't entirely sure how Suzie had taken his decision, as she hadn't been very forthcoming with any opinions, but at least she had not quibbled about needing to take control of the field missions once again.

Ianto also began leaving the Hub at normal business hours, rather than the extended hours that he had previously been in the habit of working. After the rest of the team had left for the day, the Hub seemed very quiet and empty without Jack there and not even Myfanwy's presence could cover that.

The extra time he spent at home left him enough time to finally deal with all the boxes of Lisa's belongings. Unpacking the boxes, he realised there were a lot of things in them that he didn't really need to keep any longer. Despite the contents all being things that he had previously decided to keep, he could see now that he was only trying to hang onto past memories, memories that could never return. He decided to only keep the things with the most sentimental value; he'd send some of the nicer items to Lisa's parents and then get rid of the rest.

Doing this proved to be very therapeutic for Ianto and by the time he had finished, he finally felt ready to move on. He would never forget Lisa – the memories and dreams they shared could never be forgotten – but for the first time since Canary Wharf, he felt ready to get on with his life. The only real doubts he had now revolved around Jack, and what sort of future they could possibly hope to have, if any.

* * *

After Ianto had left him at the pub, Jack knew there was no point staying there any longer. He definitely wasn't going to be picking anyone up that night. Seeing Ianto sitting there opposite him, he realised why he hadn't been able to find anyone at the pub up to his standards – the dark hair, blue eyes and Welsh vowels he had been thinking about belonged to Ianto, and not some random shag. Quite simply, no one else was going to be a good enough substitute for him.

Waving goodbye to Josh, he exited the pub, stood out in the street and took a deep breath. He knew there was no point going back to the safe house to try and sleep at this time of night, so he did something else he hadn't done in a long time. He went and found himself a high roof to stand on.

He stood on his chosen roof, looking out over the city. Standing on a roof somewhere was his most effective "place of Zen". Somewhere he could stand and think, and not be disturbed by the rest of the team. And with everything that had happened recently, there were many thoughts swirling around his head that he needed to sort through.

Jack was tired of being alone, tired of being the only immortal person he knew of, tired of having to keep it all secret. Only Ianto and the committee knew he was immortal; telling the rest of the team ran the risk of someone else finding out his secret. It wasn't that he didn't trust the others, but things had a habit of slipping, and being a lab rat once was more than enough for him, he couldn't risk it happening again.

He thought back once again to the tarot card girl. She had told him he needed to wait in Cardiff, as _someone_ would come who could give him answers he needed about why he was the way he was; but she had never told him who it was, and now she never would. She disappeared off to London just before Canary Wharf and never came back. _I have to save someone there_, she had said. She never told him who that someone was either. Another someone. Just how many someones were there?

Standing there, Jack heard what he thought sounded like thunder off in the distance. As it was a clear night in Cardiff with the stars shining and not covered by any clouds, he was surprised to also smell rain in the air. When the thunder sounded again, he thought he heard the sound of children's laughter in the distance. He shuddered; that laughter sounded horribly familiar.

* * *

The night before he was officially allowed to return to the Hub, Jack found himself once again unable to sleep. His bag was already packed and he decided to leave the safe house straight away, rather than wait for morning. He tidied up, making sure he left everything the way he found it; he would have to return later to replace the money he had borrowed. Considering how late it was, he figured Ianto would be home already and he decided to see if he could get back into the Hub.

To his surprise, his swipe card still worked and none of the entry codes had been changed. He went into his bunker and looked around. Ianto had clearly tidied up at some stage but it was obvious he hadn't been staying there. Jack was taken aback at how disappointed that made him feel.

Suddenly the past couple of months caught up with Jack, and he felt more tired than he had done in a long while. Dumping his bag on the table, he undressed, got into bed and, with his hands resting on the pillow above his head, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

_The shrill of a whistle blowing and the sounds of a train rattling along the tracks. Jack is in a train carriage, dressed in his old captain's uniform, sitting against the wall. He looks around him and smiles as one of the men moves past. The fluttering of wings. Another man lies, unmoving, on the floor. More fluttering. Jack looks around him in horror and the whistle blows again. The other men are all motionless – _dead?_ – their eyes are closed; something red inside their mouths. Jack stands, the only one left alive. Fifteen men, they are all dead. One of them is on the floor, his head leaning back against a sack, his mouth filled to overflowing with the same red… something. The train lurches and Jack grabs hold of the wall with two hands to keep his balance. The wings fluttering gets louder. The dead man's head lolls around and red rose petals come tumbling out of his mouth…_

* * *

Jack's eyes opened suddenly as his nightmare woke him up. As he lay there, covered in sweat and breathing hard, it occurred to him that he hadn't thought of Lahore in a very long time. He had a horrible suspicion he knew why those particular memories had chosen now to resurface.

He got and up and had started to get dressed when he felt a compelling urge to get out from within the confined space of his bunker. After the dream of being shut in the train carriage with so many dead men, he desperately needed to get out. Despite not being fully dressed – he hadn't even put his braces on properly yet – he climbed up the ladder. He stopped, leant over Ianto's desk and let out a breath. He stood up straight again when he noticed a red petal lying there. He picked it up cautiously, suddenly even more worried.

A noise behind him startled him and he spun around to see what it was, shoving the petal in his pocket as he did so. Ianto was standing there, stopped just outside the office, reading through a file.

Jack took a moment to watch him. "You shouldn't be here," he said finally.

Ianto looked up at the unexpected sound, startled, and closed the file hurriedly. He had been engrossed in the file and hadn't noticed Jack standing there. He looked back at Jack. He was not yet prepared for Jack to be back, to be so close, and especially not to be in the half-dressed state that he was in.

He pointed at Jack with the file. "Neither should you."

He gripped the file nervously, and as Jack started to move closer, he looked downwards and started to walk away quickly. Having Jack that close, with that white t-shirt stretched so tightly across his hard muscles was just too much, too soon for Ianto. Being ready to move on with life, and being ready to deal with Jack, were two entirely different things.

Ianto walked over to and sat at the workstation where he had been working earlier. Jack followed and stood behind him, putting a hand on Ianto's back. "What have you got?"

Unable to help himself, Ianto looked around at Jack's hand and up at Jack briefly, before turning back to the screen. He straightened himself up and took a deep breath before replying. "Funny sort of weather patterns." He turned back around to look at Jack.

Jack's face grew grim as he pieced the information on the screen together with his nightmare and with the sounds he had heard earlier while on the roof. He stood there he looking through the data with Ianto.

"Have you seen anything like this before Jack?"

Jack shrugged, noncommittally. "Can I ask a favour? I received an invitation from an old friend, to see a presentation of hers. Can I take someone to investigate what she's been looking at? I think it might help us with this." He pointed at the screen.

The main lights switched on then, stopping them from saying anything more as they saw Gwen enter the Hub. She looked over at them and was delighted to see Jack standing there.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, excited to see him back. She came running over and gave him a bone crushing hug whilst sending a not-so-subtle glare in Ianto's direction. "Welcome back!"

The two men smiled at each other over her head, amused at her response. She tried to lead Jack away, asking him what he had been up to since the last time she visited him.

"Take her," Ianto mouthed at Jack.

Jack nodded gratefully at Ianto and allowed Gwen to lead him away.

When they arrived, the other two women greeted him just as happily, but not quite as noisily or effusively as Gwen had. When he finally stumbled in, Owen patted him on the back in greeting.

Later that day, when Jack took Gwen to see his friend's presentation, she was disbelieving when she saw the subject on a poster outside the lecture hall. Jack had to shush her a few times when she made disparaging comments about what his friend, Estelle Cole, was talking about in her speech. Despite this, Gwen was all ears when she realised that there seemed to be more between Jack and Estelle than she initially thought. Then when she found the pictures of Jack's father with Estelle during the war, her gossip instincts went into overdrive.

As soon as they got back to the Hub, she couldn't wait to tell the others that Jack's dad and Estelle had apparently been "quite an item once upon a time". Ianto looked at Jack questioningly, knowing full well Jack's father had never been on the planet. Jack however avoided his glance and changed the subject to give a debriefing of what he knew of Estelle's supposed fairies.

Gwen also revealed a fair bit of knowledge about one of the photos that Estelle had shown and, even though she didn't get it all right, it was still enough to impress Jack. After Owen also shared what he knew about Roundstone Wood's history, it was decided they would go and investigate the wood.

They went to the wood to see if they could find anything usual, but everything appeared normal. Owen collected some soil and leaf samples to take back to the Hub to analyse further. Jack dropped Owen and Suzie back off at the Hub and was about to take Tosh and Gwen home when Ianto called through to tell them about the death of Mark Goodson.

At the police station, Gwen discovered the petals in Goodson's mouth. With every petal that she pulled out, Jack felt a shudder go through him. This confirmed for him beyond a doubt who was responsible and he knew the "fairies" had found their next Chosen One.

Back at the Hub, Jack had just finished explaining about Chosen Ones to Gwen and Tosh when the phone rang, sounding extremely loud in the mostly quiet Hub. With a feeling of dread, Jack answered the phone only to hear Estelle's panicked voice. She had tried summoning the fairies again only discover they were not the friendly, loving creatures she had thought them to be. There were bad ones and they were coming for her.

* * *

After the death of Estelle, Tosh, Suzie and Owen went home while Gwen stayed back at the Hub with Jack. He poured both of them a drink and they sat on the sofa. Jack tried to tell Gwen about some of the things his father had supposedly told him about regarding his time with Estelle, but found he couldn't continue. He glanced pleadingly over at Ianto, who was standing in the doorway of his office watching them discretely.

"Gwen," Ianto said gently. "How about you let me finish up here, hey?"

Gwen reluctantly looked away from Jack and over to Ianto. Ianto looked back at her steadily, silently willing her not to argue. Gwen sighed and nodded, she knew there was no point arguing with Ianto now. Despite not being convinced that Ianto was the right one to look after Jack, considering he had only recently kicked Jack out, she knew that arguing about it with him wouldn't help Jack. "OK then, I'll see you tomorrow Jack," she said softly.

After she left, Ianto came over and sat down next to Jack. Ianto closed his eyes briefly then put an arm around Jack and pulled him closer. The other man just sat there, tears streaming down his face.

"Do you want to tell me about her? I know it wasn't your father who was with Estelle. It was you, wasn't it?"

Jack nodded.

"How did you meet?"

"In London… at the Astoria Ballroom… a few weeks before Christmas," he began hesitantly. "She was seventeen years old, and she was beautiful. I loved her at first sight. We were inseparable. We once made a vow. That we'd be with each other till we died. But nothing lasted back then..."

"So what happened?"

"It was wartime, I was posted abroad, she volunteered to work on the land," Jack shrugged and shook his head. "It just happened that way. Promises were always being broken." He paused, and turned himself around to face Ianto. "Estelle… to have to die like that."

He shut his eyes, trying to shut out the vision of Estelle dead in his arms and took another swig from his glass. Ianto tightened his grip on Jack, and when he put the glass down again Ianto raised a hand and caressed him gently on the cheek. They looked at each other, Jack's eyes full of misery, Ianto's eyes full of understanding. Jack closed his eyes again and rested his head on Ianto's shoulder, letting himself be supported by Ianto. They stayed that way for a very long time.

* * *

First thing in the morning, Gwen called through to say her house had been broken into and had been thoroughly trashed. She knew it was the fairies who had done it – they had left some of those rose petals in amongst the debris.

Jack went around to try and calm her down. He had never seen her so spooked, it was the first time since she had joined Torchwood that something had happened in her own home and she wasn't happy. It took something pretty bad for Gwen Cooper to admit she was scared.

They got back to the Hub just in time for Tosh to detect the strange weather patterns coming from Coed Y Garreg Primary School. The team took off as fast as they could and managed to find a teacher who able to give them the information they needed – they knew now who the Chosen One was.

Unfortunately though, they arrived too late to save Roy and, after chasing Jasmine to where the ancient forest used to be, Jack and Gwen finally came face to face with the fairies. To Gwen's disbelief, Jack eventually allowed Jasmine to leave with the fairies. Owen, Suzie and Tosh were livid with him too, and refused to even look at him as they filed back to the SUV.

When they got back to the Hub everyone except Jack and Gwen spoke to Ianto individually and told him exactly what they thought about Jack letting Jasmine go. Ianto didn't mention it to anyone, but he started getting annoyed by everyone blaming Jack for what had happened. All of them were thinking about the child's mother and not one of them had stopped to consider what could have happened to the entire world had Jasmine and the fairies not gotten their own way. Plus Jasmine had wanted to go; it wasn't like she was being forced to do something against her will.

He looked over at Jack sitting disconsolately on the sofa. If they thought it had been an easy decision for Jack to make, then they were all deluding themselves. Ianto suddenly had had enough and wanted them all gone. He told them to go home and hoped that maybe, in the light of day, they would reconsider their treatment of Jack. If not, they would need to be told a thing or two. One by one, they all left the Hub, leaving Ianto and Jack alone. None of them spoke to Jack as they left, not even Gwen.

Once alone again, Ianto and Jack found themselves in a very similar position to the previous evening. Ianto sat beside Jack on the sofa and had his arm around him once again. Jack leant into Ianto's side, bringing one arm back around Ianto, and held on tight.

"It's not been a good month for either of us, has it?" Ianto said rhetorically to Jack. He turned his head slightly and kissed the top of Jack's head.

Jack shook his head and shuffled around in his seat to be facing Ianto directly. He looked at Ianto searchingly. They leant closer together and slowly their lips met in a gentle kiss.

There was not a sexual kiss; instead, it was a kiss of comfort and reassurance, two things sorely needed by them both. The Hub, their surroundings and the events of the past month all faded away, and their world was reduced to just the two of them and their kiss. The taste and feel and smell of the other. Their arms around each other, their tongues, their lips moving against each other's. Their soft moans as they lost themselves in each other, their pulses racing and heartbeats soaring.

And for just a short while, everything in their lives felt good.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Ianto woke the next morning to find that he had a very sore neck and that he was alone in the Hub.

After talking for many hours throughout the night, both he and Jack had eventually fallen asleep on the sofa. Sometime later, Jack had apparently woken and placed a blanket from his bed over Ianto before disappearing. Ianto stretched out as comfortably as he could on the cramped sofa, trying to work the kinks out before he got up.

He thought back over the previous night, and in particular, to the kiss he and Jack had shared. Unsurprisingly, he found he had rather enjoyed the kiss and for a brief moment, he wondered exactly why he had taken so long to let it happen. He thought back to his weapons training session, so many weeks ago, and the way that he had all but run from Jack when the man was about to kiss him. He was fairly sure he wouldn't be doing that again.

Finally deciding to get up, Ianto went looking for Jack in his bunker and then in any other likely places that he could possibly be, but wasn't able to find him. Ianto tried calling his phone and got no answer. He decided to bring up the CCTV footage for the Hub and discovered Jack had walked out just after 5.00am and had then gone in through a back entrance of the nearby Millennium Centre. Ianto fast-forwarded through nearly two hours of footage but couldn't see where Jack had come back out again. At a loss, he decided he may as well go home and get changed before the rest of the team arrived.

* * *

Perched on the roof of the Millennium Centre, Jack watched Ianto leave the Hub and begin his journey home.

Jack had also been thinking back to last night, and to the kiss, and to how easy it would have been for him to totally lose himself in the kiss, in Ianto. Jack had felt particularly vulnerable yesterday and, despite their recent history, Ianto had been there for him when he really needed someone. Out of the whole team, Ianto had the most reasons to hate him, but he turned out to be the only one who actually stood by him and made him feel like he had done the right thing.

Jack didn't want that, he didn't want to lose himself in someone else, didn't want to get attached, despite how good it would feel. And he didn't know what to do.

* * *

When the rest of the team arrived for the day they were all late, and all of them clearly wanted to be somewhere else. They were still not talking to Jack, but Tosh at least made sure Jack was covered when she and Suzie went out on the lunch run. Ianto observed them all and felt his anger from yesterday returning.

After a strained lunch, they dispersed through the Hub to continue their day's work. Ianto watched them all interacting with each other. They were all subdued and only spoke the bare minimum to each other. Jack was ignored completely.

By mid-afternoon Ianto had had enough. He sent Jack off to the Archives for a while and called the rest of the team into the boardroom for an impromptu meeting.

He stood at the head of the table and looked at each of them in turn before sitting down. They could all see he was angry about something.

"Things is starting to get a bit ridiculous," he began. "All of you need to stop treating Jack like a leper. Jack may not be perfect, but he did what he had to do."

"But he sacrificed that poor girl!" Gwen objected.

"Sacrificed? Hardly! She's alive and happy and where – and when – she wants to be."

"And what about her mother? She's lost her partner and her only child…"

"And what about the entire planet Gwen?" Ianto interrupted. "Jack had a far bigger picture to think about than just one family. If he hadn't have done what he did, we wouldn't even be here having this conversation."

"So the next time the world needs to be saved, it's OK for him to sacrifice anyone is it?" Suzie asked.

"That's right, what if he decides it's one of us who needs to be sacrificed next?" Owen said. "We need to be able to trust the people we're with when we're out on missions, not be watching our backs just in case Jack decides we're the ones to go this time. You've never been out on field missions Ianto; you don't know what it's like. Without being able to rely on your team mates, someone's going to get injured, or worse."

Ianto took a deep breath before saying anything more; he was getting a bit sick of hearing the word "sacrifice".

He looked the one person who hadn't said anything so far. "Tosh, you've been quiet there. Have you got anything else to add?"

Tosh visibly squirmed as everyone turned their attention on her. She looked down at the table and shook her head quickly.

"Look, I'm not saying that what happened to Lynn wasn't terrible," Ianto continued. "And yes, I wish there had been another way of dealing with the situation. But the fact is that there simply wasn't any other way of dealing with it and that is why Jack is in charge of the field missions. He's the one who can make the decisions that need to be made, the decisions that none of you would ever be prepared to make. Everyone needs to accept that, or this team will fall apart."

Toshiko and Gwen looked a bit ashamed of themselves and by the end of the day, they were both speaking to Jack again and Tosh had even apologised for her behaviour. Owen and Suzie were a bit slower to come around, but by the next day, they too had started speaking to Jack again. By the end of the week things appeared to be getting back to normal between the five team members again.

How things were between Ianto and Jack however was a bit harder to judge. Other than that one night, Ianto still was not staying at the Hub overnight. And even though they snuck in a few more kisses here and there, with hands tending to wander further and further each time, Jack was adamant that they should remain appearing as simply a boss and employee to the rest of the team. He did not want anyone to think there was anything between them.

Ianto, who was still struggling with trust issues where Jack was concerned, could see his point to an extent, but it made it so much harder for Ianto to believe that Jack even wanted there to be something serious between the two of them, when he was so adamant about hiding whatever it was they had.

As far as Jack was concerned, he was still prepared to leave Torchwood as soon as he could. It had started to become an obsession with him: meet anyone new and he would use all the resources available to him to see if there was any hint that they were that "someone" he had been told was coming. He also started plotting anew to get his Vortex Manipulator back; Ianto was the only one with the codes to the Secure Archives, so Jack had started using all his considerable charms to try to convince Ianto that someone else should know the codes, for security purposes.

* * *

A few weeks later, Ianto noticed a series of police reports about seventeen people who had disappeared without a trace within the last five months. The last known whereabouts of each one was somewhere out in the Brecon Beacons, all within a twenty-mile radius. None of the bodies had ever been found. There were no patterns in age, sex, race; one minute they were there; the next, gone. The police were clueless.

Ianto smiled to himself as he imagined how Owen would reply to that last comment.

Ianto sent the reports through to Suzie and Jack, wanting to make sure the rift had not spread out that far. Jack took Ianto aside and suggested that considering the distance Jack would have to travel, this case might be a good opportunity for Ianto to come out on a field trip. Partly as a way to avoid having to tell the rest of the team about the tracker injected into Ianto and partly because Ianto had told him about Owen pointing out that Ianto had no idea what it was like out in the field. Hearing this, Suzie requested to stay behind to monitor the rift, knowing that all six of them would not fit in the SUV; she suggested it would be best if someone stayed behind in Cardiff. This would be the first time she had been alone in the Hub since she had been retconned.

As the team were packing up the SUV, Owen looked incredulously at the tents and made his feelings about camping and the countryside perfectly clear to anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in hearing range.

Ianto never liked camping either. The uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, the fact that he always ended up freezing or saturated in the rain, and the stupid campfire games that everyone would inevitably force him to play, all combined to make camping trips a thoroughly dismal experience for him.

It seemed inanely predictable then, when Gwen continued the tradition of stupid campfire games, by starting her Who Was The Last Person You Snogged game, claiming it to be "just a bit of fun". Owen seemed to be giving Jack a run for his money in the Casanova stakes when it was revealed Tosh's last kiss had been him and he revealed his last kiss was with Gwen. It seemed everyone was lost for words, especially those who knew that Suzie would most likely have said Owen too, had she been there.

Ianto sat there growing more and more uncomfortable at where this game was heading. And when Jack made a joke about aliens for his turn, weeks of being frustrated by Jack's behaviour towards him turned Ianto's discomfort to anger.

"It's my turn, is it?" Ianto smiled bitterly. _If that's how Jack wants to play it, if he wants to deny there's anything between us…_ "It was Lisa."

The smiles dropped off everyone's faces instantly; Toshiko looked away in mortification.

"Ianto, I'm sorry," Gwen blustered.

"Sorry she's dead? Or sorry you mentioned it?"

"I just didn't think."

"You forgot."

In the uneasy silence that followed, Owen decided to use the excuse of gathering firewood as an excuse to get away. Gwen was quick to follow him, leaving Tosh alone with Ianto and Jack.

Ianto watched the two walk away and then turned back to see Jack watching him uncomfortably. Ianto looked away again, not wanting to be drawn into an argument. It may have been a low blow for him to throw Lisa back in Jack's face again, but Jack's continuing refusal to acknowledge Ianto was hurting him more than he thought it would.

A short while later it all became irrelevant as Gwen and Owen found the body in the woods and the SUV was stolen while they were investigating the scene. They soon realised the SUV's keys had been left in the vehicle making it easy for it to be stolen.

"Basic security protocols Owen!" Tosh growled as they searched through the wreckage of their campsite.

"Oh, get off your high horse, Tosh! And besides, what about Captain Alien-Snogger over there?" Owen retorted. "He was still sitting in the SUV when Gwen started her stupid snogging game. Why didn't he lock the SUV behind him?"

Everyone turned to look at Jack: they had forgotten he was the last one in the SUV, not Owen. He shrugged and gave a bashful grin. Owen looked around at the others, smirking in triumph.

They gathered up anything useful that was still intact and looked at Ianto to see what they would do next.

Ianto held up a PDA. "I've tracked down the SUV. It's currently 3.4 miles west from here."

"Gunning at ninety, no doubt." Owen said. "You steal a piece of equipment like that, you drive straight on till morning."

"Actually, no, it's been stationary for the past four minutes. I'd go so far as to say it was parked."

They all looked at each other, they all knew it was a trap but there was only one thing they could do.

Jack looked at them all. "Anyone fancy a walk?"

* * *

A lifetime later, Suzie waited solemnly at the Hub for them to come back. She could hardly believe that all those people had gone missing because an entire village were actually cannibals and were "harvesting" their victims' "meat". Jack had rung though with the details while they were waiting for the police to show up.

They arranged that Jack would bring Ianto, Owen, Tosh and Gwen back to the Hub and then take Ianto home after everyone else had been attended to.

Ianto did not speak much on the way back, other than telling everyone not to come in for a couple of days. Suzie could monitor any rift activity and if needs be she could call Jack or Owen in to help her with anything she couldn't handle on her own, given neither of them had been injured.

While searching through the cannibal's village, Gwen had been shot by someone who was trying to hide from them. Owen had been able to remove the pellets onsite and he patched her up a bit better at the Hub. He gave her a lot of painkillers to mask the worst of the pain, and then took her home to Rhys.

Ianto's injuries would take longer to heal and there wasn't much Owen could do for him before he left, beyond loading him up with painkillers too. He told Ianto he would come over to Ianto's house the next day to give him a check up.

Tosh had been sitting on the sofa, thinking about that man's hands around her neck. She wasn't physically injured beyond a few scratches and bruises, but that man's face and his sadistic smile was going to haunt her for a long time. Suzie volunteered to take her home and to stay the night with her, knowing she would not want to be alone after the way she had been assaulted.

Before they left, Tosh came over and gave Ianto a hug. "Thank you," she whispered.

Ianto would have smiled back at her if he could, but instead, the best he could manage was a slight nod of his head.

Ianto's limbs stiffened somewhat during the ride home and Jack needed to help him get out of the vehicle and into his flat. He stood in the middle of the lounge room looking lost until Jack slowly guided him to the bathroom and helped him get undressed. Jack started the shower running and urged Ianto into the cubicle. While Ianto stood there letting the hot water run over him, Jack went and got him a clean pair of pyjamas. Leaving them just outside the shower, he went into the kitchen and made Ianto a hot drink. He only made one, as he was not really sure whether he would be welcome to stay.

Jack's anger after the snogging game had faded away to guilt as he remembered how many times he told Owen they would not go after Ianto and Tosh. He had sent Ianto away when they got to the cannibal's village and had nearly lost him because of it. It was yet another reason he should not get too close to Ianto.

When Ianto was ready, Jack helped him get into bed, covered him up and after a moment's thought placed a gentle kiss to his forehead. As he turned to leave, Ianto reached out and caught hold of his hand. "Don't go," he said quietly.

Jack looked back at him and nodded. He stripped down to his white t-shirt, grabbed one of Ianto's spare pyjama bottoms and slipped under the covers. He lay on his side facing Ianto who curled up against his chest. Jack put his arm around Ianto carefully, trying not to bump any of his injuries, and held him close until he fell asleep.

Jack continued to lie there, watching as Ianto slept and waited for the nightmares to come. He tried to concentrate on Ianto only, but his mind kept wandering back what he had said earlier when Ianto and Tosh were separated from them…

"_What's taking Tosh and Ianto so long?" _

"_They're not children. They know what to do."_

"_Why are we still talking about this? Tosh and Ianto can look after themselves."_

"_The kid is our first priority."_

Owen had wanted to go after them, but Jack had continually said no, frustrating Owen so much, that in the end he wouldn't even let Jack help him with Gwen. And look what had happened – he had nearly lost Ianto, two seconds later and that red mark on Ianto's throat would have been a whole lot more serious.

Remembering what Tosh had told him though, made him smile. Ianto had saved her; he gave up a chance at freedom so that Tosh could get away. Jack knew it was something any good leader would do, but this was Ianto's first time in the field and he would have been terrified. Jack denied to himself that it was pride he was feeling for Ianto.

Ianto's nightmares came, as Jack knew they would, and he was there to comfort Ianto through them. When the worst of the nightmares were over, Jack settled himself down and fell asleep himself.

When Jack woke in the morning, he gave a silent sigh of relief. Having spent the night in Ianto's arms made him feel more comfortable and contented than he had in a while. After a while, Jack noticed Ianto had woken up and was watching him.

Jack smiled at him. "I've missed this," he said quietly.

Ianto paused a moment and then nodded. "Me too."

They snuggled in a bit tighter against each, neither wanting to lose the warmth or safety that the other represented. Jack was tempted to lean over and kiss him deeply, but he settled for Ianto's forehead instead, all thoughts of trying to keep his distance flying out the window. "I've missed _you_," he whispered.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note:** This chapter has parts of "Greeks Bearing Gifts" so there is a bit of F/F kissing at the end. Although, probably not who you'd expect...

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 20**

As a young man growing up on the Boeshane Peninsula, Jack Harkness had lived his life to the fullest, and the unofficial adage of the 51st century of "So many species, so little time" seemed to have been created with Jack in mind.

Growing up without the guidance of his father, who had died the same day his brother had disappeared, meant there was no one around with either the capability or the desire to rein him in. His mother, who never recovered from the shock of losing both her husband and her youngest son at the same time, had lost what little control she had over him not long after.

Eventually, after one run in too many with an over-protective father, or designation thereof, Jack decided it might be prudent to get away from the planet for a while and, accordingly, he applied to join the Time Agency. No one had ever been accepted into the Time Agency from Boeshane before, and his acceptance to the agency turned him from being regarded as the local layabout to being a poster boy virtually overnight.

Joining the Time Agency however didn't curb any of his habits; it just gave him more places, and more times, to play around in.

By the time he left the Time Agency, his longest relationship had been two weeks. His partner for those two weeks liked to claim they were actually together for five years, but Jack resolutely chose to ignore the "time loop" and stuck to the two weeks.

After he became immortal, and subsequently trapped by Torchwood, any thought of him having a long-term relationship became even less of a reality. With the exceedingly low average life expectancy rate of Torchwood agents, and the rareness of him being allowed contact with people outside of Torchwood, Jack simply would not allow himself to become attached to anyone. His relationship with Estelle Cole, and how much it had hurt when he had to leave her behind, only served to reinforce to him how committing himself to someone would only hurt him – and them – in the end.

Jack's own parents had been fiercely loyal to each other, which was unusual for his time, and had been faithful to each other for their entire relationship. Jack had initially been proud of his parents for their dedication to each other, but seeing the way his mother had fallen apart after his father's death, and the way she had never been able to piece her life back together again afterwards, made Jack question exactly why anyone would ever want to put themselves through something like that.

* * *

When they had finally got out of bed that morning, Ianto and Jack were both quiet and subdued. Ianto, because he was still suffering from the after affects of what he had gone through the day before and Jack, because it was finally getting through to him that he simply couldn't keep his distance from Ianto, no matter how wise a decision he thought that would be. Nearly losing him the day before had made that painfully clear.

After a late breakfast, they moved into Ianto's lounge room and lay back on the lounge together; Ianto with his head resting on Jack's chest and Jack absently running his fingers through Ianto's hair.

Jack had never been to Ianto's flat before and he took the time to look around him. His attention was immediately drawn to a couple of photos of Ianto and someone he assumed was Lisa. It was the first time he had seen what she looked like before the conversion. They had made a good-looking couple he reflected.

As he lay there though, Jack felt a nearly overwhelming urge to run. The situation seemed too close to domestic for his liking and Jack Harkness simply didn't do domestic. Not even once had he ever come close to considering settling down with someone, and the feelings he seemed to be developing for Ianto scared him beyond belief. Sitting on a lounge, relaxing, and just generally spending time with someone wasn't something he equated with himself.

It was almost a relief when he heard the sound of keys in Ianto's front door. He sat himself up in a rush, almost pushing Ianto off of him.

"Who's that?"

Ianto looked at him, a bit put out about Jack pushing him away the way he did. "It's probably Owen. He said he'd come over today."

"How come he has a key to your place?" Jack asked. He ignored the stab of jealousy he felt at the thought of Owen having a key, when he himself had never even been there before.

Ianto paused, considering how to answer that. "He got one from me while you were suspended. Seems I counted as a suicide risk. He wanted to be able to check up on me, in case he couldn't get a hold of me for some reason."

Jack looked away, surprised. He hadn't really let himself think along those lines while he was suspended. He knew that Ianto would have taken what happened badly, but he had never considered that suicide could possibly have been one of Ianto options.

Owen walking in stopped Jack from saying anything further. Jack stood up when Owen came into the room.

"It's about time I headed off," Jack said, ignoring the look of disappointment on Ianto's face.

Owen looked from one man to another. "You don't need to leave on my account," he said to Jack.

"Someone needs to be at the Hub, we can't leave the Hub unmonitored." Jack replied and turned to leave.

"Jack…" Ianto began.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jack dismissed whatever else Ianto had been going to say and walked out.

* * *

Jack looked at his watch. Just after 2.00am. He had been on this roof for nearly five hours now. He stood there looking over the city trying to think about absolutely anything else other than Ianto Jones.

Jack had spent most of the day hidden away in the Hub, some of it in his bunker, some of it in the Archives working on the new filing system Ianto had instigated, and some of it in Ianto's office staring at the door to the Secure Archives. His Vortex Manipulator was in there somewhere.

And now here he was, standing on a roof, not thinking about Ianto. Ianto would be in bed by now; it was much too late for him to go back there. Jack closed his eyes and sighed.

Not. Thinking. About. Ianto.

He opened his eyes and looked at the sparkling lights of Cardiff. Ianto would enjoy the…

Not. Thinking. Abo…

But who was he kidding he thought. It was practically all he had done all day.

If Ianto was asleep now, he would be having nightmares about the cannibals and that meant Jack had left him on his own with his nightmares…

With one final glance at the lights of the city, Jack got back to Ianto's flat as soon as he could. He wasn't too surprised to find Ianto had not locked the front door behind him. Hearing mutterings coming from Ianto's room, he rushed in to find him in the middle of a nightmare.

Jack quickly stripped down to his t-shirt and underwear and got into the bed. He pulled Ianto close to him, trying to wake him gently. Ianto woke with a start, but when he realised who was there he curled himself against Jack. They held each other tightly.

This is it, Jack thought to himself as he listened as Ianto's breathing return to normal. No more running.

* * *

Far from being the scary concept he had thought it would be, Jack's vow not to run from Ianto actually turned out to be quite calming for Jack.

Whilst it didn't mean they immediately turned into the couple of the year, Jack felt surprisingly comfortable with the thought of being with Ianto. He stopped demanding they be kept a secret, and even though they didn't flaunt it in front of everyone, the team soon knew that they were together. He found that quite liberating, especially given that other than a few smart aleck comments from Owen, nothing really seemed to change in the team because of it.

* * *

One other side benefit to come out of the incident with the cannibals was a renewed friendship between Toshiko and Suzie.

When Tosh had first arrived at Torchwood, their common interest in technology and alien artefacts had created an instant bond between them. After the glove and its matching knife had been found in the bay though, they had drifted apart as Suzie became more and more thralled to the glove. When Suzie returned from her week off, Suzie had seemingly reverted back to being more like the person she had been previously, but Tosh, who had been burnt before, had continued to keep her distance. Suzie staying overnight at her house, to help her deal with the trauma of the cannibal incident, however seemed to break away those last remaining barriers and re-sealed their friendship.

This meant that when Tosh headed straight for the pub one night after a very bad day at work, she was not alone.

Before the Second World War, and the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Toshiharu Sato had worked at Bletchley Park. Although he had signed the 'Official Secrets Act', forbidding him from giving away any Crown or government secrets, his whole family knew that he had been a highly sought after cryptologist who was very well respected in his field. His love of codes, and trying to break them, had been handed down to his only granddaughter, Toshiko.

Her work at Lodmoor Research Facility, and later at Torchwood, had developed her skills so finely, that she was now even more skilled than Toshiharu had been. She felt very honoured to be able to continue the work of the grandfather she had been named after.

The significance of her work – like the fact that translating alien languages could open so many possibilities – only served to heighten the lack of respect shown by Owen and Gwen the day they accidentally broke her computer and destroyed her research.

This, compounded by their not-so-subtle comments at the dig site earlier in the day, caused her to feel very upset, so with Suzie in tow she headed off to the pub to relieve some of her tension.

At the pub, after countless drinks, and many, many giggly stories, Suzie nudged Tosh's shoulder.

"Don't look now, but I think you've got an admirer," she said to Tosh. Suzie grabbed a compact mirror from her handbag and used it to show Tosh a blonde woman sitting on the other side of the room. She hadn't taken her eyes off Tosh since the moment they arrived.

As if knowing they were on to her, the blonde woman chose that moment to walk up to them. She stood next to Tosh, leant on the back of her stool and started talking straightaway.

"So the guy over there's been staring at me all evening, and I've told him he's wasting his time but he won't listen. So I've come over to talk to you because I know how this ends. He gets a punch in the neck and I get barred. And I've already been barred from about twenty pubs, and I don't want to get barred from this one because they do these nice olives on the tables."

Throughout this whole speech, the woman had only been looking at Tosh and totally ignoring Suzie. This got Suzie's back up immediately, especially given that no one had even spoken to the blonde woman at all while they had been there. Her story seemed a bit too contrived, a bit too carefully planned, to Suzie.

"Err… right. OK, then," Tosh replied uncertainly.

"Cool. Let me get you a drink," the woman said in reply.

"Really, there's no need," Tosh protested.

The blonde woman turned to the bar tender. "JD and Coke. And, Toshiko, Suzie, what do you want?"

Tosh and Suzie looked at her suspiciously. "We didn't tell you our names."

"Oh, yeah. That was the other thing. I kind of know who you are."

* * *

As Tosh stood in the car park watching Suzie drive away, her thoughts went back to the woman in the pub.

After the day she had had at work, it was a welcome relief to have someone interested in her, for there to be someone who had gone out of their way to find out specifically about her. There was a vague niggle in the back of her mind that it was really Torchwood that Mary was interested in, and that there was something stalker-ish about how Mary had approached her, but she pushed those thoughts quite firmly out of her mind.

By telling herself it was part of her job to make sure the woman really didn't know anything that she shouldn't, she was able to deny to herself she had been flattered by the attention had paid to her when she walked back into the pub to talk to her again. Mary was still sitting at the bar and staring straight at her as she came back in. They looked at each other and smiled.

Moving over to the tables, Tosh found herself talking to Mary about the things they found and the similarities she had found between the cultures of humans and alien species. She didn't notice that Mary wasn't really listening, as caught up as she was in what she was saying and in the need to simply be able to vent to someone.

When Tosh finally stopped for another sip of her drink, Mary pulled something out of her handbag.

"I want to show you something," she said to Tosh. She pulled out a gold tin and took out a green crystal that was on a gold chain.

"It's a pendant." Tosh said.

"Put it on."

Tosh was immediately overwhelmed by dozens of voices rushing through her head. She looked around and then at Mary in confusion. It took a while, but with the help of Mary, Tosh was finally able to focus on Mary's voice only. Mary explained her version of what the pendant was and told Tosh to keep it. With it being alien technology, Tosh's first instincts were to take it back to Torchwood and hand it over to Ianto.

Mary just laughed and took another sip of her drink. "I bet you don't."

This only made Tosh more determined than ever to hand it over to be investigated properly. When she arrived at work the next day she went in through the abandoned tourist centre, but just before she pressed the button to enter the passageway she stopped. She thought about the pendant, and all those voices she heard. This was Torchwood though and there were only five other people there. Maybe it would be different with only five other voices to listen to; maybe there would be a way of controlling it this time.

She decided to put the pendant on, just for a little while, just to test if she actually could control it this time. Entering the Hub, the first people she came across was Owen and Gwen. Standing there, she listened to their thoughts and almost immediately she realised they were sleeping together. It wasn't just the kiss that she had found out about in the Brecon Beacons, but an actual full-blown affair. Owen, the man she had been in love with for so long, and Gwen, the only one in a relationship outside of Torchwood, had an arrangement.

That was only two voices, but what she had heard from just those two voices totally unnerved her. Rather than staying to talk to them beyond the morning greetings, Tosh escaped to one of the tables near the kitchen, just trying to be somewhere she wouldn't have to hear any more thoughts from Owen and Gwen. She was reading a book, trying to concentrate her thoughts, when Ianto passed through with an empty coffee cup.

She looked up in surprise; she hadn't heard him come in, hadn't heard any voice in her head.

Ianto looked at her and smiled. "I'm about to brew some of Jack's industrial strength coffee. Would you like a cup?"

"I'm… I'm fine. Thanks, Ianto," Tosh replied.

As Ianto walked away, she concentrated really hard to see if she could hear anything from him but all she managed to hear was a partial sentence "_an inch of me that doesn't hurt_". There may have been a thought about Jack towards the end, but she didn't hear enough to make any real sense of what he was thinking.

Ianto took the coffees for him and Jack back to his office, but by the time he made it back to the office, his hands were shaking so badly he nearly dropped the cups. Jack, who had been waiting there for him, jumped up and took the cups from him. Putting them down on the table, he guided Ianto to a chair.

"Ianto, what's wrong?" Jack placed a comforting hand on Ianto's cheek.

Ianto leant into the touch for a moment before replying. "I'm not really sure. I was making the coffees, Tosh was there, and as I started coming back here, I felt something. I don't know what it was though."

"What did it feel like?"

"I don't know how to describe. It felt like something was poking at me, and then I had this instant headache. That was when my hands started shaking."

"Tosh was there? What was she doing?"

"Nothing really. Just reading a book. It wouldn't have been anything she did." Ianto raised a hand and placed it over Jack's hand, pressing it against his cheek a bit harder, taking comfort from the touch.

After a moment, Jack pulled him up from the chair. "Come on, you should lie down for a bit." He took Ianto down into the bunker and helped him onto the bed. He covered Ianto up and went back into the Hub.

Ianto stayed in the bunker for most of the day, and Jack took it upon himself to keep an eye on the team. It didn't take him long to notice that Tosh was even more withdrawn than usual. She also seemed to be deliberately avoiding Owen and Gwen. Jack knew she had been upset the previous day by their actions, but it wasn't like Tosh to hold a grudge for so long. He began to wonder if she really had just been only reading a book earlier.

The next day, Suzie began to notice the changes in Tosh as well. She also noticed a strange new pendant that she was wearing now as well. It wasn't the type of jewellery that she had ever seen her wear before, and she wondered where she had got it.

That afternoon Ianto suggested the team go for drinks. They hadn't gone out as a team since the incident with the cannibals, and as he had been out of action for most of the previous day recovering from that strange headache, he thought it was time they all had a catch up.

During the drinks, Ianto, Jack and Suzie all noticed that Tosh seemed to be distracted. At first, they thought it might have had something to do with Owen. He and Gwen had been at each other all night with their snarky comments and private jokes. The three of them were aware of Tosh's feelings toward Owen, and thought that could possibly be what was upsetting Tosh.

They weren't all that surprised when Tosh made her excuses and left early. Suzie offered to give her a lift home which Tosh accepted. When they got to Tosh's house, they both saw Mary waiting out the front.

"Isn't that the girl from the pub?" Suzie asked. "The one who knows about Torchwood?"

Tosh didn't answer, she just continued to look out the window.

"Tosh! What are you doing? You can't be talking to her!" Suzie exclaimed. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Tosh starting to blush.

"You don't understand!" Tosh finally spoke up. "For the first time in so very long, someone is interested in me. She took the time to find out about me. Me! Not you, not Jack, not Gwen Cooper, but me!"

Suzie shook her head. "That's not true."

"What? You don't think she could be interested in me? Poor old plain, boring Toshiko? Is that it?" Tosh yelled back at her. "Mary is the first person in ages who has made me feel wanted and appreciated. Like I'm someone who could be attractive to someone else. Unlike Owen, shagging everything and everyone. Everyone except me!"

Suzie smiled and shook her head again slowly. "Oh Tosh. That is so not true. You're not plain, you're not boring and you're not unattractive. If that was the case, do you really think I'd do this?"

And with that, she leant across, took hold of Tosh's face and, cradling her cheeks gently in her hands she pulled her closer and kissed her deeply.


	21. Chapter 21

**Authors Note: **Apologies to everyone for the irregular posting over the last couple of months. The last 10 weeks or so have not been very good for me health wise, plus over half of my team at work were fired due to budget cuts, but I seem to be back on track now, and hopefully will get back to posting weekly again.

Also, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed the last couple of chapters, even though I haven't replied to any of them. The reviews are highly appreciated, and have been just the encouragement I've needed... xxx

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 21**

Out of all the thoughts that had flown through Tosh's mind over the last couple of days – be they those of her own or those of others – none were more frantically bewildering than those that started swirling about her head while Suzie was kissing her. And then when to her surprise, she found herself returning the kiss just as deeply, she felt like her mind would explode.

Never in her life would she have expected that Suzie Costello, of all people, would want to kiss her. To Tosh, Suzie was a woman who sometimes times could seem so distant and so haughty, but at other times would display a brilliant mind and could accomplish so much. Why would Suzie Costello be even remotely interested in someone like her? Tosh couldn't see any reason why she would even be noticed by Suzie.

For one brief moment she thought that perhaps Suzie was simply trying to make her feel better, or trying to distract her from worrying about Owen or Mary, but no sooner did that thought start to form when Tosh realised that it could not be right. Surely there was no way that anyone could fake the tenderness in Suzie's touch, or the urgency she radiated? Suzie's kiss spoke of an intimacy and affection that couldn't possibly be faked.

When they finally pulled away from each other, they both immediately noticed that Mary had disappeared. They sat there, looking back at each other, breathing heavily, neither knowing exactly what to say next.

Suzie was the first to speak. "Tosh?" she asked quietly. "Was that OK?"

Tosh continued to look at Suzie and then nodded slowly, utterly unable to speak. She raised a tentative hand and stroked Suzie's cheek uncertainly.

A car suddenly roaring loudly down the street interrupted their quiet moment and Tosh sat back abruptly, suddenly aware of where they were. She gestured towards her front door.

"Shall we…" she trailed off, unsure of exactly what was supposed to happen next.

"OK," Suzie agreed quickly.

They got out of the car, both of them surreptitiously looking around to see if Mary was still hanging around, before crossing the road. When they couldn't see anyone there, Tosh unlocked the door and they went inside.

Once inside, Tosh suddenly felt overwhelmed by guilt. Her bed was still a mess from the night before with Mary. For someone who had been alone for so long, the fact that she had slept with Mary the night before and now had only just finished kissing Suzie, made her wonder exactly what type of person she was turning into. It certainly wasn't like her at all to skip from one person to another. What would Suzie think if she knew? Would she consider Tosh as someone who would tumble into bed with absolutely anyone? And more importantly, would that mean that Suzie would no longer want her? To her surprise, the thought of that distressed Tosh greatly. Surprise because less than an hour ago the thought of something happening between her and Suzie wasn't even conceivable, and now here she was, worrying that she might have jeopardised anything from happening before it even started.

Some of her discomfort must have communicated itself to Suzie because she walked up to Tosh and carefully started to put her arms around her.

"Come here," she said to Tosh. Suzie held Tosh against her and started rubbing a hand up and down Tosh's back comfortingly. They stood there for a long while, before Tosh finally spoke.

"So what happens now?" she asked.

Suzie shrugged. "Nothing that you don't want, there's no pressure here." Suzie paused. "Did you sleep with her last night?"

Tosh froze. If she said yes, would this mean the end of something that hadn't yet begun? She eventually nodded, unable to lie.

"Then maybe I should leave," Suzie said gently. She raised a hand to cut off Tosh's protests and then cupped her cheek. "I know you too well Tosh. If you sleep with her one night and me the next, you'll go on a massive guilt trip, and that will spoil anything we could possibly build together."

Tosh nodded reluctantly. She was disappointed that Suzie wouldn't be staying, but she could see the wisdom in what she was saying.

Suzie gave Tosh one more kiss and then prepared to leave for the night. "Don't worry, I will be back."

* * *

After Tosh and Suzie left the pub, Ianto and Jack decided they would leave as well. They had intended to head straight back to the Hub, but as it was a nice evening they ended up taking a walk along the bay instead.

Owen and Gwen stayed a while longer, but Owen found himself increasingly distracted by memories of the body of a young girl that had been brought into the hospital where he was practising just six months after he had qualified. What was her name? Lucy Marcham? Marmont? Marmer. When he finally remembered her name, he knew he would be unable to wait until the next day to check the records for her. He made his excuses to Gwen and went back to the Hub to investigate further.

As he walked along with Ianto, Jack thought over a conversation he had had late in the day with a Detective Inspector Henderson. Ianto had received a phone call from Andy Davidson, Gwen's former partner in the police and Torchwood's main contact, saying that someone wanted to speak with him. Even though he had managed to hide it from the rest of the team, Ianto was still suffering from the headache from yesterday so he sent Jack in his place.

The story Henderson told him got him thinking. Henderson had told him about how Tosh had saved a woman and her kid from being murdered by her ex-husband. The DI had also said that Tosh had claimed she heard the ex-husband muttering to himself as he was walking along, and that's what tipped her off. Jack told Ianto afterwards that he thought that was weird, because if he was about to murder someone, he would be really careful not to talk to himself about it while he was in the street.

To Jack, the events of the past couple of days slowly began to seem related. The object they had found at the dig site, Tosh's odd behaviour, the strange pendant that Suzie had mentioned her wearing, the way he felt someone scrabbling around in his mind when Tosh had spoken to him, Ianto's sudden and unexplained headache; they all had to fit together somehow. He hadn't quite worked out where the body came into it though; there must be some pieces of the puzzle they hadn't discovered yet.

As they passed a building that Jack was very familiar with, he grabbed hold of Ianto's arm and pulled him into the building. When Ianto looked at him questioningly, he grinned back at him and raised a finger to his lips, indicating for Ianto to be quiet. Jack took him to one of the supply lifts at the back of the building, up to the roof and then led him towards the edge of the building.

"Jack?" Ianto queried. He started to pull back a bit, not comfortable with being so close to the edge.

Jack grinned again, and wrapped an arm around Ianto's waist, holding him closer.

"It's alright, Ianto. Just relax. This is where I do some of my best thinking. Just relax and take in the sights of the city," Jack soothed.

Ianto looked at him like he was mad, but decided to take Jack at his word. He stood there looking at the view of Cardiff. Eventually he found himself relaxing enough to be able to stand there without Jack holding onto him. The two of them stood there together watching over the city, watching the lights of the city, the traffic passing beneath them, the people getting on with their lives blissfully unaware of the dangers they were being protected from.

He stole a glance at Jack's face and was surprised to see a look of peace on Jack's face. He didn't see that look very often, mostly only when Jack was asleep. Ianto looked back over the city again, a half-smile on his face. It was nice to see Jack like that and that alone made Ianto content to stay there on the roof with Jack for as long as he needed.

While Jack was aware of Ianto watching him, he continued thinking over the last couple of days. When Tosh had come in that morning, late – which was unusual for her – she had sought Jack out and asked him about Greek Mythology and the archer Philoctetes. Jack had wondered why she had asked him instead of finding out for herself, but he didn't get a chance to ask as he was trying to concentrate on Ianto's phone call to the Prime Minister at the time.

Ianto too was thinking about the events of the past few days. After Suzie had raised the topic of Tosh's strange looking pendant, he had started researching similar items. There wasn't anything in Torchwood 3's records but as he still had access to London's back up servers, he ran some queries there as well. While they were standing on the roof, the results were pushed through to his PDA. The results showed that the pendant was made by a race of aliens renowned for making devices that enhanced or simulated a whole range of psychic abilities including things like telekinesis and telepathy. Ianto was about to show the results to Jack when he was interrupted by a phone call from Owen.

"You need to see this," Owen simply said and hung up the phone.

* * *

When Ianto and Jack got back to the Hub and heard what Owen had discovered about 'Operation Lowry', the commission set up to investigate a range of murders similar to that of the body that they had found, and that it covered cases that dated back over a hundred years, Jack realised that that was the information that was missing. Ianto immediately called both Gwen and Suzie back to the Hub.

Owen asked why they weren't calling Tosh in as well, but both Ianto and Jack had separately come to the conclusion that Tosh may have been compromised and Ianto wanted to talk to Suzie before deciding anything else. He had seen the two had gotten closer recently, confirmed by Suzie's concern when she told him about the pendant, and thought that Suzie might have a better insight into what was happening with Tosh.

The Hub's proximity alarms were triggered while they were planning what to do and Owen brought up the CCTV footage to see Tosh was approaching the Hub. Suzie was disappointed to see Mary with her. Mary must have come back again after she had left Tosh's house, she realised.

They decided Jack should do the talking and operate the device, figuring that he would be better prepared to reset the device if their plans didn't work first go. Also, if Tosh used the pendant on Ianto again, they weren't sure if it would have the same effect as last time, despite having found a counter-acting bracelet in the archives.

As soon as Ianto had told Jack what he had found out about Tosh's pendant, Jack realised they had just the thing they needed in the archives. It hadn't been catalogued properly as yet, but Jack knew it was there all the same. This bracelet would supposedly cancel out the effects of the pendant, but they didn't want to risk the transporter getting into the hands of Mary too early, should the bracelet not protect Ianto after all. Suzie, Owen and Gwen had not felt anything uncomfortable while Tosh had been around, nor had they suffered from the headache that Ianto had, so Ianto and Jack hoped that they would not need the bracelet.

Everyone hid from sight just as Tosh and Mary entered the Hub, waiting to see what they would do.

Tosh entered the Hub sheepishly, with Mary trailing close behind her. Mary looked around the Hub in amazement.

"'In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, a stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river ran, through caverns measureless to man, down to a sunless sea.'" Mary quoted. "So, where is it, lover?"

"Stay here," Tosh answered. "Jack, or my boss, has got it."

Mary grabbed hold of Tosh as she went to pass. "Be quick. I've a long journey ahead of me. I might need something to eat before I go."

"This what you're looking for?"

The sound of footsteps caused them both to spin around and look up to one of the walkways, where they saw Jack holding the object, the transporter, they had found at the dig site.

"Jack!" Tosh exclaimed in surprise. She spun around again as Ianto came out of his office. He was wearing a bracelet around his wrist which she had never seen before, but looked to be of a similar design to the pendant that Mary had given her. She frowned in confusion. "Ianto?"

After Jack had given his spiel about his friend Vincent, who came back as Vanessa, the cogwheel door sounded and they all looked around to see Suzie, Owen and Gwen appear from various parts of the Hub to surround Tosh and Mary.

Tosh saw the look of disappointment on Suzie's face as she stood there with Mary; she looked away quickly not wanting to see. She found herself looking helplessly between Jack and Mary as she finally found out the truth about what Mary actually was and why she was stranded on Earth.

The revelations of what Mary had done while she had been stranded horrified Tosh, she couldn't believe that she had helped a murderer get into the Hub and had been going to let her walk off with the transporter. She looked back at Suzie in shame. To her surprise though, Suzie did not seem to be angry with her, instead she almost looked sympathetic.

Owen chose that moment to make a move, but with blistering speed Mary raced over to the artefact table, grabbed a knife and came back to hold it to Tosh's throat.

"Let her go Mary!" Jack yelled. He was the closest to the pair but, even still, he knew he would not be quick enough to be able to stop Mary from slitting Tosh's throat should she feel threatened enough. He thought quickly, the pendant Tosh was wearing gave her some form of telepathy. He had felt Tosh trying to read him, and the only other person in the team with any form of psychic abilities, Ianto, had been nearly incapacitated after Tosh had tried reading him.

"_Toshiko... Don't move. Don't do anything until I say._" Jack sent to Tosh mentally, making sure that Mary was unable to hear him. To her credit, Tosh stood there and didn't physically react to Jack's unexpected message.

Jack negotiated with Mary to swap Tosh with the transporter. The second Mary let go of Tosh Suzie raised her arms to Tosh who ran over to her. Suzie wrapped her arms around Tosh and held on to her while the transporter was activated and Mary disappeared.

Tosh turned around to look at Jack and Ianto. "What did she...? Has she gone home?" she asked uncertainly.

Jack glared at her. "I reset the co-ordinates."

"Where to?"

"To the centre of the sun. It shouldn't be hot. I mean, we sent her there at night and everything."

"You killed her."

"Yes!" snapped Jack unapologetically. He and Tosh glared at each other for a few minutes before Jack turned around sharply and followed Ianto into his office.

Tosh turned back to Suzie and sobbed helplessly.

* * *

Hours later, Ianto sat wearily at his desk, swinging the pendant back and forth in front of him. After Suzie had sat with Tosh to get all the details of the case to be able to complete the paperwork for Ianto, she had brought the pendant in to Ianto. Tosh had wanted to destroy it straight away, claiming it was a curse, but Suzie had wanted to bring it back to Ianto for him to decide what to do.

Jack came up to the office and stood in the doorway and watched Ianto watching the pendant.

"Do you know what you're going to do with it yet?" he asked quietly.

Ianto looked up quickly, he hadn't noticed Jack standing there. He started to shrug and then looked towards the Secure Archives.

"No, I'm not sure yet. I guess I'll put in there for now." With a sigh, Ianto stood up and opened the safe door.

Jack moved behind him wondering, as he always did, which container his Vortex Manipulator was in. He looked at all the containers he was able to see from his angle, but there was nothing to show which one it was in. He thought about asking Ianto about it, but seeing the tiredness in Ianto's stance, he decided it wasn't a good time. Ianto shut the safe back up and Jack put it out of his mind for the moment.

* * *

Eight men, all wearing their standard cravats, entered a particular building feeling more than a little nervous and apprehensive about what was about to happen. A meeting of the entire committee was practically unheard of; it had been over forty years since the last time a full meeting had been held, and longer still since their leader had deigned to attend one. It had only served to heighten their misgivings about the meeting when the men had heard that their leader would also be in attendance for this meeting.

When the men had seated themselves, they waited patiently for the senior committee members to finish their preparations. These two men, both of whom were very familiar to Ianto and Jack, entered the room precisely ten minutes after the other eight had been told to be there ready to start.

They proceeded to seal everyone into the room by surrounding the building with a perception filter to ensure they were not disturbed. Once that was done, they started the meeting by activating a white sphere that sat in the middle of the table.

All ten men lowered their heads in respect as their leader suddenly materialised behind the two senior men.

"Gentlemen," he said. "Welcome to 'A Stitch in Time'."


	22. Chapter 22

**Interesting Fact of the Day:** The actor Shend, who played Max Tresillion in _They Keep Killing Suzie_, was the driving force behind top 80s UK indie group The Cravats

* * *

**A Good Man  
**

**Chapter 22**

When the committee was first formed in 1879, there were originally eleven members. After a short while, two members in particular had impressed the Crown that much with their ability to get things happening that they were soon elevated to be senior members.

Unbeknown to anyone else the two of them had a hidden agenda. Their loyalty was not to the Crown but to a mysterious benefactor. This benefactor's identity had never been revealed to anyone else in the committee and he was only ever referred to as their leader, despite never being officially part of the actual committee. Their benefactor was responsible for the senior committee members' success, his powers and abilities giving them an unfair advantage over the remaining members.

When their leader had decided the time had come, the senior members revealed his existence to the rest of the committee. The other members were quick to change their allegiance to the leader; all thoughts of remaining loyal to the Crown rather than their new leader banished after a subtle display of his powers. One committee member had thought to protest their change of loyalties and had tried to alert the authorities to what was happening. If any of the other members shared his concerns they soon changed their minds. Seeing and hearing the pain and agony of his death, an example of their leader's power, soon took care of any thoughts of dissent. The committee had remained at ten members ever since.

The ability to jump through time was one of their leader's most used abilities. This kept the committee constant as they were jumped through time to be there when they were needed, rather than living out their years in a linear timeline. The committee members had long lost track of things like their age and what time they were in. Being jumped back and forth through time constantly gave them no points of reference, and they were not given any means of recording their actions. The only ones who had any real concept of time's progression were the two senior members, and only because their leader had shared certain things with them.

The responsibilities of the senior two members meant that they were present at or responsible for most of the major events in Torchwood's history. They were the ones that pointed Yvonne Hartman in the direction of the radar black spot that would eventually lead to the construction of the Torchwood Tower in London; they were in India prior to the closure of the Torchwood office there by Jack Harkness, secretly assisting the Duchess of Melrose and they were the last ones to see Torchwood 4 before it disappeared.

They had also been involved with a large number of events in Cardiff over the years as well. They were the ones who had injected Ianto with the tracker, the ones who gave Jack the mission to hide the Cyberwoman, they engineered the contract declaring Jack to be the property of the current Torchwood director and were the first committee members on the scene after Alex Hopkins had murdered the Torchwood 3 team in 1999.

Another major event was coming up for Torchwood Cardiff in the next few months, or more specifically, for Captain Jack Harkness. And Bilis Manger wanted the committee to be ready.

* * *

The committee members raised their heads after their leader had finished his greeting and looked at him expectantly. The two senior members took their seats after the leader had sat down at the head of the table.

Bilis looked at every man in turn, seeing their faces pale as he glanced at every one just long enough for them to begin to worry that they were the reason this meeting had been called. Their fears seemed to be justified as Bilis began to speak again.

"I am very disappointed," he said. "The Cyberwoman has been destroyed, and young Mr Jones and that freak are still together."

Some of the committee members glanced at the senior men, everyone knew that was their task to give to the freak. Were they to be punished?

"But that's alright," Bilis continued. "We always knew that Mr Jones was a very forgiving sort of man, so there was always a risk that this wouldn't work."

"So what should we do?" one of the braver men asked.

"Don't you worry about that. I have something in mind that will destroy Mr Jones' trust in the freak altogether, but first we'll start working on the rest of the team. They seem to be a pretty tight team at the moment, so I think we need to step things up a bit and start chipping away at the other team members, make them all just a little bit less comfortable with each other."

Bilis waved a hand and a file appeared on the table in front of each of the men. The cover showed a photograph of a tall, well-built tattooed man. His name was Max Tresillian.

"We'll start with Suzie Costello."

* * *

Jack looked around the Hub in relief. Apart from Ianto, everyone had finally gone home. Suzie had gone home with Tosh, knowing she would need the comfort of having someone with her. Gwen and Owen had both left, although whether they were both going to Owen's Jack really didn't want to know. He felt sorry for Rhys who seemed like a decent bloke, but Jack had been with Torchwood long enough to know that Gwen's affair really wasn't all that unusual.

Jack had previously intended to stay up working in the Hub that night, but that was before Mary had happened, and seeing the hurt in Tosh's eyes when he killed the alien made him want to be near Ianto instead. He brought some paperwork down into the bunker with him, thinking he would be able to sit at the table and work on it quietly without disturbing Ianto.

Thoughts of paperwork fled his mind however when he climbed down the ladder. Jack caught his breath when he saw Ianto lying there, wearing only his boxer shorts and sprawled out asleep on the bed. This was something that had only just started recently.

Jack had caught him coming out of the shower one day. That was the first time he had seen all of Ianto naked and had seen the numerous scars covering Ianto's body. There were long lines across his back, burn marks on his arms and various other scars and marks on him. Jack couldn't keep the concern from his face when he saw them all, but one look at the dark expression on Ianto's face he knew better than to ask about them.

While they lay in bed that night, Jack eventually got out of Ianto that some of them were from Canary Wharf when he was trying to rescue Lisa from the burning tower, but the rest of the scars were clearly off-limits for discussion. Ianto's nightmares had been especially bad that night and Jack had not pried again.

Even though they didn't talk about the scars again, the knowledge that Jack had seen them now gradually made Ianto comfortable enough to sleep shirtless. He didn't do it all the time, but just enough for Jack to know that Ianto was getting more and more comfortable being undressed around him.

Regardless of how many scars Ianto may have, Jack still found him extremely hot, and sight of him lying there with very little on reminded Jack of exactly that. He dumped the nearly-forgotten paperwork on the table and quickly got undressed. He climbed into the bed behind the sleeping Ianto and wrapped an arm around his waist. Ianto responded with a satisfied murmur and snuggled back against Jack, pressing their bodies against each other. Jack smiled contentedly and kissed the back of Ianto's head, breathing in the smell of his hair.

"Good night Ianto."

* * *

When Jack woke in the morning, Ianto had rolled over in his arms and was now facing him. His head was resting on the pillow just in front of Jack's face and he was watching him sleep with an affectionate smile on his face.

"Morning," Jack said.

Ianto didn't reply but instead leant forward and kissed him. Jack responded straightaway, pulling Ianto flush against him, even closer than they had been last night. They lay there kissing each other slowly, neither in a rush to end it. Jack's hand was rubbing up and down Ianto's back, taking in the feeling of his bare skin while he could. Jack knew that Ianto would most likely be the one to end the kiss.

They were yet to have sex, Ianto still not being comfortable enough to go that far, but Jack hoped that with Ianto now getting more comfortable with Jack that it wouldn't be much longer. It was starting to drive Jack crazy not being able to consummate their relationship, and the thought of finally making love to him was now constantly on his mind, but he knew he had to wait; it had to be on Ianto's terms.

Sex with Jack was also constantly on Ianto's mind, but despite what Jack thought, the lack of sex wasn't anything about being comfortable with being naked with Jack. Ianto was in fact rather intimidated by Jack's past history. Jack had lived on and been to many places and planets, he had met many species and had slept with so many of them, but here was Ianto. He had only had sex with three people, all female, and all definitely human. How could Ianto possibly compete with that? Despite Jack's patience with him, he must seem like a bumbling, inexperienced teenager compared to Jack.

Jack held on tighter as he felt Ianto start to get twitchy. He moved slightly so that his erection wouldn't be pushing against Ianto quite so noticeably, hoping that would make him a little more comfortable, but all too soon Ianto had pulled away from. Jack could see the regret in Ianto's face and longed to say something to him, but he just flopped back onto the bed as Ianto walked away and groaned in frustration.

Not frustration with Ianto, but frustration at whatever it was in Ianto's past that had left him so lacking in self-confidence on a personal level. Ianto was a brilliant director, he had the team running the smoothest it ever had with the least amount of tension between the staff, he could out-snark Owen on any day and could charm everyone else in the team and any authorities they had to deal with, but on the more intimate, personal level that only Jack saw, he struggled greatly.

He watched Ianto climb the ladder out of the bunker until he disappeared from view then slowly got up himself and headed for the shower.

* * *

When Suzie had taken Tosh home, Tosh had paused at the front door suddenly unwilling to enter the flat where she had been with Mary. She looked at Suzie helplessly.

Suzie seemed to understand. "Do you want to come back to my place instead?"

After a moment, Tosh nodded in relief. They finally went inside and Tosh packed an overnight bag with a couple of changes of clothes, not quite sure when she would want to come back again.

They went back to Suzie's house, and after she had shown Tosh where everything was downstairs they went upstairs to bed, the pair of them too tired to do anything else but sleep. Tosh lay awake for a long time though, her mind too busy to allow her to rest. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that she finally fell into a restless sleep.

Unsurprisingly, Suzie woke long before Tosh. After watching Tosh sleep for a few moments she got up to make them breakfast but as she was walking across the room she was struck by a sudden vision of a glove and a wicked looking knife. A noise from Tosh behind her made her realise that she had been standing there looking at a drawer for at least ten minutes. She was about to walk over to the drawer and open it to see if there was anything in there she needed to know about, but a quick glance over at Tosh reminded her she had actually intended to prepare some food. With a frown of confusion she left the room and went downstairs.

* * *

Jack stood in the doorway of Ianto's office, watching him in the kitchen making their morning coffees. Jack found it curious that everyone in the team had neatly paired off with each other; Tosh and Suzie had just recently come together, Gwen and Owen were having their affair and he and Ianto had been together, more or less, for quite a while now.

Although it was still early days for Tosh and Suzie, everyone in the team seemed happy. Surely that wouldn't last though Jack thought. Life was never that easy for Torchwood. He pushed memories of Lucia out of his mind.

Jack had deliberately worn his dark blue waistcoat, which he knew was a favourite of Ianto's, and paired it with a chain and watch. He knew he'd done the right thing when he saw the spontaneous grin appear on Ianto's face when he joined him in the kitchen. Ianto pulled him in for another kiss, despite his self-imposed "no kissing/touching in work hours" rule, only the sound of the cogwheel door alarms signalling the arrival of Tosh and Suzie was enough to separate them. They turned around to see the girls grinning up at them delightedly.

Gwen and Owen arrived five minutes apart. The other four weren't fooled though, knowing that only Owen's car was in the garage and they had both come from the garage.

"Do they really think we don't know?" Ianto asked. The others laughed. Ianto was pleased to see that Tosh laughed right along with them, he was glad she had Suzie to help her to get over her heart break over Owen.

Tosh and Suzie went over to their desks to start their day's work and Ianto went up to his office to concentrate on his own paperwork. Jack followed him as there was something he wanted to discuss. Ianto looked at him enquiringly as Jack shut the office door behind them.

"I think we need to talk about your psychic abilities, or more to the point, you need to learn how to block yourself from a psychic attack." Jack said by way of answer to the unasked question.

"What do you mean?"

"What happened with Tosh, that was a psychic attack and you clearly have some sort of innate ability to counteract it, but it needs to be developed properly. So that your brain doesn't try to shut your body down again. I think that's what caused your headaches when Tosh used the pendant on you."

Ianto thought over what Jack had just said. "Do you have psychic abilities of your own? Is that how you were able to communicate to Tosh without Mary hearing?"

Jack shrugged. "All Time Agents have some form of training. Psychic Paper is quite common in my time and all agents need to know how to recognise it." He pulled out the watch that he had on the end of the chain on his waistcoat. "Timed exercises to start with, we'll see how long you can block me out and gradually increase the time. How about it?"

Ianto looked at the stopwatch and sighed reluctantly. "I guess we've got a lot of work ahead of us."


	23. Chapter 23

**A Good Man  
**

**Chapter 23**_  
_

_Two unknown dark-haired women were driving in a car, speeding down a long, empty road in the endless darkness. Maybe they were driving towards a hospital, maybe they were escaping from something one of them had done._

_The driver, who was somehow now Gwen Cooper, turned and smiled. "A bit more colour in your cheeks," she said to the passenger who was now Suzie Costello. Gwen's own face was getting paler; inversely matching how much Suzie was looking healthier. Gwen's freckles stood out in sharp contrast to the paleness of her skin._

_The car grew colder, the road seemed longer and the darkness seemed impossibly darker._

"_When you're dead… I mean, when you die, what happens?" Gwen asked. "What's out there?" Because somehow, Suzie had been dead, and now she was alive. Alive, but not quite how they remembered her._

_Suzie looked at her chillingly. "Nothing, just nothing. It's just darkness."_

_Outside, darkness followed the car, surrounded it, swallowing everything else up, leaving only the darkness outside the car; a terrible, empty darkness. Suzie opened her mouth to speak again, to tell Gwen that when you're dead you weren't alone, there was something out there… in the dark and it was moving, but then, suddenly, there actually _was_ something there with them._

_Suzie laughed in triumph, her face growing older, becoming wrinkled, her eyes cruel, and, for a brief moment, she was transformed into an old man. An old man wearing a cravat._

_The road in front of them split into two, the earth pushing upwards and knocking the car off to the side of the road. Something rose from the split in the earth and loomed over them. It was huge and dangerous. It looked like something that could suck the life right out of you. It was…_

_It was coming for Ianto._

* * *

Jack held on tightly. He had known from the moment Ianto had started struggling against him that this was going to be a bad nightmare.

"Something's coming. It's coming. Something's coming. It's coming." Ianto repeated fearfully, over and over again.

Jack continued holding on to him, making sure he didn't hurt himself while soothing him as best as he could.

Ianto finally woke, his hands scrabbling wildly over Jack's shoulders and arms, trying to get a grip on him and draw some strength from him. Jack didn't resist, not even when Ianto's grip grew tight enough to be painful; his only priority was making Ianto feel safe and secure again.

"Shh, shh," Jack said comfortingly. "You're awake now. Shh."

All Ianto could do was look back at Jack, his blue eyes wide, his breathing erratic. Jack pulled Ianto's head down gently to rest on his shoulder. When he felt Ianto's breathing start to return to normal, he asked Ianto what had happened in the nightmare.

"I don't know yet," he was eventually able to say.

"Yet?" Jack questioned.

"Mmm," Ianto replied. "It's always like that, the first few times I don't remember much of what happens. It's not until I've been having the dream for a week or so that I start remembering it all."

"So this is going to be one of your recurring nightmares then? One that shows something that's going to happen? Are you sure?"

Ianto looked back at him, a wry smile on his face. "After so many years, I know. It's usually only the ones that happen straight away that I remember everything the first time it happens. The others tend to reveal themselves a bit at a time.

"This one, it was… all I really remember was that it was dark, and then suddenly something huge was there, and it was coming."

He didn't say any more. There was one more thing he remembered from the dream, but he wasn't quite ready to share that with Jack yet. Suzie was dead but not dead? That aspect of the dream seemed different to the rest, it seemed more of a hint to what could have happened in the past, rather than to something that was yet to happen. That had not happened in his dreams before and he needed some time to process it first.

Ianto rested his forehead back against Jack's chest, suddenly wanting to – needing to – lose himself in the smell of Jack and the steady sound of his strong heartbeat. He closed his eyes as his hands moved against Jack's back, enjoying the feel of Jack's smooth skin against his own as they lay there, lost in their own thoughts.

* * *

In the morning, Suzie rang to ask if it would be all right for her and Tosh to have the rest of the week off. She told Ianto that Tosh was not coping as well as they thought she would with recent events, especially the loss of Mary. Suzie said she thought it would be best for her to have a complete break from Torchwood and the Hub for a while. Ianto had Jack check the rift prediction programme and when it seemed there wouldn't be any rift activity for a while, Ianto was happy to agree.

Ianto was actually rather relieved not to have to face Suzie after the nightmare he'd had. He was feeling a bit out of sorts himself and he wasn't sure yet how to deal with the nightmare.

Tosh and Suzie being away for the week did mean however that later that day Ianto ended up travelling with the rest of the team after they received a call from the police to report a double murder that had been discovered that looked to be a case for Torchwood. Hopefully this field trip would be a lot less painful for Ianto than the last time he went out with the team. Jack gave him a reassuring smile as they got in the SUV, causing Owen to tell them good-naturedly to get a room, which in turn drew a laugh from Gwen.

* * *

Detective Kathy Swanson turned and sighed in dismay as she watched the SUV roar up to the scene with its headlights glaring, even though it was broad daylight, and screech to a halt; she didn't bother to hide her disdain. There was no love lost between Torchwood and some departments within the police force. Most departments actually.

The appointment of Gwen to Torchwood and her liaising with Andy Davidson had eased the relationship within some areas and Ianto's presence also would also usually have a positive effect, but for some reason Detective Swanson seemed unusually determined not to like anything to do with them. As she and Jack spoke to each other, the disdain turned into outright hostility and Ianto decided he had better step in.

"I'm the director of Torchwood, Ianto Jones," he stated, stepping in between the detective and Jack and holding his hand out to shake.

Swanson continued to glare a Jack a moment longer, before reluctantly turning her gaze to Ianto. "Pleased to meet you," she replied, sounding anything but.

She gave the team a run down of what had happened, including the previous day's practically identical, murder of Alex Arwyn. Swanson withheld one last piece of information back though, judging that it would have a far greater impact if they saw it for themselves.

She was right. The entire team stopped in shock when they saw the murder scene, all suddenly realising the cause of Swanson's hostility. The killer had painted "Torchwood 6" on the walls in the victims' own blood.

Clearing the room of all the police in the room caused another round of hostilities between Jack and Detective Swanson. Jack saw Owen smirking out the corner of his eye.

"Losing your touch there, Harkness?"

Jack just glared back at him.

"Still," Owen continued as he shut the door behind the detective. "At least we've got a head start. If it's someone we've pissed off, that narrows it down to... ooh, four or five million."

Jack looked briefly at Ianto. "And that's just the humans."

They began to speculate on what the "6" stood for. Was it because there were six of them? Was there a Torchwood 6 branch they weren't aware of?

After Gwen and Owen had gathered all the evidence they wanted from the scene and had arranged for the bodies to be transported back to the Hub, Jack told them to pack up, eager to get away from the judgemental stares of Swanson's team. Ianto however told them to check through the whole house first. He wanted them to gather as much information as they could about the Briscoes. He had a feeling that they wouldn't find anything useful left in the house if they had to go back in later, judging by the hostility from Detective Swanson. He left them going through the house while he spoke to Swanson again; wanting to know what information the police had managed to dig up. After Gwen and Owen came back from gathering various items, he told Owen that Retcon had been found in the murderer's DNA profile.

After that, they left the scene, wanting to go back to the Hub and start their investigations. Ianto sent the information they had collected through to Suzie as well, just in case anything rang a bell for her.

* * *

Suzie read through the email from Ianto and logged off, deep in thought.

Tosh was lying on the couch watching some mindless daytime TV soapie, not really paying attention to much of anything. Despite Suzie's earlier phone call to Ianto, it was actually Suzie who had had the restless night, not Tosh. Thankfully though, when she had suggested they take the week off together Tosh had agreed, without pushing for a reason why, making it easy for Suzie to steer the conversation away from topics she didn't want to discuss. As far as Tosh was concerned, it had been a while since either of them had had a break and a chance to spend some time together was certainly welcome.

Suzie had by now had five visions of the glove and knife, but was no closer to working out what they actually were. After each of the visions, she had also found herself standing in front the drawer where she had found herself in front after the original vision.

Suzie decided to go and check her mailbox. She didn't get many letters through the post, but her bills seemed to be never-ending and there always seemed to be something in there.

Suzie took her mail out of the mailbox only to realise she had been standing there, staring aimlessly into space with the mail still in her hand, for at least several minutes. She counted the envelopes in her hand. There were six of them. She sat down on a lounge chair not far from Tosh, feeling distracted and mildly disjointed. There was something lurking at the back of her mind trying to get her attention but she just wasn't sure what it was or even what it was related to.

She thought about the number six and wondered again why the number six had been written on the wall at the Briscoe's house. She still had the envelopes in her hand. She thought about the drawer upstairs. Six. The envelopes were still in her hand. Six. Envelopes. No, not envelopes, envelope. Singular. There was one…

She remembered with a jolt that there was an envelope in the drawer upstairs. The same drawer where she had ended up after each vision of the glove and knife. One that she herself had placed there. Six months ago or thereabouts.

With another glance at Tosh, she went upstairs and finally opened the drawer. There was indeed an envelope there. One on which Suzie had written that it was not to be opened for six months. She took the envelope out of the drawer.

Opening the envelope, she found a letter she had written to herself and a clear plastic evidence bag with a square of metal inside it. She rubbed her thumb across the bag where the metal was but decided to read the letter before opening the evidence bag.

The letter said that when she touched the metal it would hopefully help her to break through the retcon Torchwood had forced _(forced?)_ her to take. She would need to get the glove and the knife from out of the Secure Archives. She had included the codes to the Secure Archives; she wasn't supposed to have those codes as they had been changed the day Ianto started and she had written in the letter that she hoped that Ianto wouldn't have changed the codes again since then.

When she finally took the metal out of the bag and touched it, she had a very similar reaction to it that Ianto did six months earlier when he picked up the glove. Except where Ianto had been horrified by what he saw, to Suzie, the visions felt familiar and comforting. And as she had hoped six months ago, touching the metal square did help her break through the remaining effects of the retcon, and suddenly the meaning of the visions of the glove and knife all made sense. She stood up abruptly; she had to get back to the Hub before they found Max.

* * *

Ianto was working in his office, trying to track down the significance of the number six when he heard a rattling coming from the secure archives. It eventually got loud enough to bring the others into the office. They all looked at the safe and then each other in confusion. Ianto got up to open the safe and they saw straight away which container it was that was causing the noise.

Jack pulled out the container that held both the glove and the knife, not wanting Ianto anywhere near them. Opening the container, they were shocked to see the fingers of the glove wriggling, almost like someone was wearing it.

Gwen turned to Ianto. "Isn't that the glove Suzie was working on a while ago? Why was it locked in the safe?" Gwen was the only one present who didn't know what Suzie had intended to do under the influence of the glove.

Ianto reluctantly began to tell Gwen the full story. Gwen was furious at him. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded.

Ianto sighed internally. "I had my reasons," he said shortly.

Gwen had just opened her mouth to argue with Ianto when they were all distracted by the sound of the cogwheel door alarms sounding. They turned and saw Suzie entering the Hub, Tosh following close behind her.

Suzie looked up as they all stared back down at her. She took a deep breath and then surprised them all by saying "I know who the murderer is."

* * *

Ianto and Suzie had been shut in his office for over an hour. The other four sat in the Hub, no one speaking, all wondering what was going on.

The door to Ianto's office finally opened up and Ianto stormed out. "Owen!" he yelled. "Take her downstairs and put her in a cell." He ignored the look of surprise on all of their faces and went back into his office. When Owen came and took Suzie away, Ianto was about to slam his office door shut again but stopped and called for Jack to come up instead.

Tosh and Gwen sat there, both wondering just what the hell was going on. When Owen came back, he wasn't able to shed any light on the matter as neither Ianto nor Suzie had said anything to him about their conversation.

"Where's Jack?" he asked, even though he was fairly sure he knew the answer.

"He's up there," Gwen pointed to Ianto's office.

"Hell of a time for a shag!" he replied.

Gwen smiled half-heartedly.

When Jack finally came back down, he told Owen and Gwen to gear up. They were going to the Wolf Bar to find a Lucy Mackenzie. He turned to Tosh and smiled sympathetically at her.

"Ianto needs to speak to you."

* * *

The trip to the Wolf Bar went successfully enough. After one mistaken identity, they managed to find Max Tresillian just in time to save Lucy Mackenzie's life. While they were driving back from the club, Jack filled Owen and Gwen in on what had happened in Ianto's office. He also told them that Suzie was now officially suspended and all her access to Torchwood systems had been revoked.

They put Max into a cell on a separate floor to Suzie while they discussed what to do next. Ianto sent Jack and Gwen to take Suzie to the Interrogation Room to formally interview her. Ianto knew he had no choice but to take some form of disciplinary action against her. With the murders that had happened, there was no way he could simply retcon her and hide it away. Murders had happened because of a Torchwood staff member, and that had to be dealt with.

When Jack had heard enough, he left her there with Gwen while he went to report back to Ianto. Gwen stayed with Suzie, wanting to know more about what had happened. She didn't understand how Suzie had gone from investigating the alien technology to instigating a series of murders.

Suzie didn't really know what to say to her that would satisfy her curiosity, but as long as Gwen was content to stay down there talking to her, she figured that she may as well try and turn it to her advantage. She had worked with Gwen long enough to know which buttons to press.

Suzie suppressed a triumphant laugh when Gwen returned to the Interrogation Room after supposedly going to make a coffee for them both, but instead had brought back the keys to unchain her from the chair.

Ianto, Jack, Owen and Tosh looked up in surprise as the alarms were set off. Tosh scanned the Hub to see what was going on and immediately realised that neither Gwen nor Suzie were still in the Hub.

"What's she doing?" Owen asked as they looked at the footage of Gwen bundling Suzie into her car.

"Getting herself fired," Jack replied grimly.

Jack and Owen were getting themselves ready to go after them when all of a sudden all the doors locked and the entire Hub was plunged into darkness.

"Ianto? Ianto!" Jack shouted.

"Captain," Ianto replied as he walked towards them. He raised the torch he was carrying as Jack approached him.

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"But, I thought you must've done it," Ianto said in confusion. "We've gone into lockdown."

"Then can't you reverse it?" Jack asked.

"I can't. It's 100%. The doors are sealed. We're locked in."


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: **This is rather a Suzie-centric episode, but never fear, our boys are not far away...

**A Good Man  
**

**Chapter 24**

**_Eleven Months Earlier_  
**

Owen stormed into the Hub, complaining about being wet and cold and how he was never doing that again, no matter who told him to, and bollocks to how important it was. Jack followed closely behind, an enormous grin on his face, clearly amused by Owen's ranting. He was carrying a container with a couple of artefacts that had been dredged out of the bay.

While they were out on their retrieval mission, the small boat they were aboard had been buffeted mercilessly by the wind and waves and had been very unsteady. Owen had the misfortune to be leaning over the side of the boat when it heaved suddenly and he was unceremoniously tipped overboard. The look of shock and disgust on his face when they got him back onboard meant Jack had needed to hold back his laughter ever since.

The girls however didn't bother with restraint as they were told the story of what had happened. They immediately burst into uncontrollable laughter and started teasing Owen about it. Suzie soon stopped though: her attention was taken by the artefacts she had taken from Jack and placed on the table. She felt the urge to inspect them carefully.

As she ran her hands over the metal of the glove, she felt a kind of a tingle, an electrical charge almost. Without sparing a glance for the rest of the team or any hesitation, she placed her hand inside the glove. It initially felt very cold to the touch but as soon as she put it on, her mind was filled with tremendous visions, and trivialities like the temperature of the glove were no longer of a concern to her.

Right at that moment, Suzie's entire world had been reduced to the glove and the glorious things it was showing her. Someone who had previously worn the glove had been a mighty warrior; his deeds in battle were outstanding and all the soldiers around him followed him in awe. His successes piled up and up, and with each one, he had felt more and more alive. Almost like the lives of the enemies he killed became part of him, their strengths and knowledge were joined with his. There was an enormous sense of pride running through the warrior. Pride, and an underlying, increasing reliance on the glove as it became part of his psyche.

Unlike Ianto, who in five months time would be horrified by what the glove showed him, Suzie saw and shared the warrior's pride. She knew the glove could give her that feeling of pride, that sense of accomplishment for herself, and she wanted it. Spending more and more time using the glove over the next few months, she was blinded to how much the warrior had become reliant on the glove when she could only feel the positive effects of it and she was especially blinded to how much she herself was becoming reliant on the glove.

It had only taken one month before she had the idea of using the glove to resurrect. She didn't quite know how she had made that jump in her reasoning of the uses of the glove, but as soon as the thought entered her mind, she knew somehow it was right. The feelings she remembered from the warrior, of how the enemies lives became part of him seemed to be a completely opposite concept to using the glove to resurrect, but she pushed those thoughts aside not wanting to examine what she was doing too deeply.

Taking the glove home one night, she found a dead fly on her windowsill and the glove almost screamed at her from within her handbag. Going and getting the glove she came straight back to the window and put the glove on.

She felt that charge she had felt the first time she put on the glove and immediately knew that something was going to happen. The fly's legs started to twitch and images started going through Suzie's head. It looked to be the point of view of the fly. Suzie laughed as she realised she was viewing her own flat from ceiling height as the fly flew around the room and she blinked in surprise as the window came up fast as the fly descended on its final flight.

It was just a brief memory, and the fly never fully revived from what she could tell, but it was enough. Just enough to confirm to Suzie, that yes, the glove could indeed resurrect.

This realisation meant Suzie had to make a choice. She was still officially an employee of UNIT, and knowing that Torchwood had the power to bring people back to life was something that she should really tell UNIT. But if she did tell them, she knew that UNIT would want to use it for themselves, and that she wouldn't be guaranteed to continue to have access to the glove or the knife. The power to resurrect, that was an unbelievable power and she knew it was not something she was prepared to give up.

Slowly, she began working on the others, telling them little bits of what she had discovered about the glove and knife. She didn't tell them everything she knew about them though – she didn't want to scare the others off. Even though she was far enough under the influence of the glove and could see nothing wrong with what she was doing, something within her told her that telling the team everything would not be a good idea.

Eventually though, she convinced them all to test the glove on one of the bodies they held in the morgue to see if she could bring them back to life or not. The attempt had mixed results, she was able to revive the man but only for a few seconds and they had not been able to communicate with him at all. But the fact that she was able to revive him at all piqued the other's interest enough to try it again.

The second time she was able to bring the person back to life for nearly thirty seconds and even speak to the person. Suzie wanted to try a third person straight away, but she was able to see that both Tosh and Owen were starting to quail at the thought of disturbing another person for only a few seconds of life. To avoid raising any suspicions Suzie left it there, she stopped pushing to use any of the bodies in the morgue and thought about what she had learnt so far.

The bodies they had used had been dead for many months. The second one, the one she had actually been able to talk to, had not been dead for as long as the first one. The fly wouldn't have been dead for that long, and she was able to see some of its memories, something she couldn't do with either of the two people. It occurred to her that she would need to use the bodies of people that had not been dead for very long.

Having decided that, Suzie was then happy to wait a bit longer to try again. It would only be a matter of time before a new body was brought in to Torchwood, the way the rift was always bringing aliens through lately, and when a body was eventually brought in, she would be able to use the glove on that person.

Even though she was happy to wait a bit longer for a third body to test, she found her eagerness to continue the research was too much to keep to herself.

She had been attending the meetings of a group called "Pilgrim". They were a very small group that weren't advertised online, it was only word of mouth and a few handwritten and photocopied posters that made their existence known. They billed themselves as a religious support group but functioned mostly as a debating society. At these meetings, she had met a man called Max.

He was a very simple man and when Suzie offered to buy him a drink one night, he couldn't believe his luck. A man like him didn't usually attract a woman like Suzie, and he lapped up every story she told him about Torchwood and the aliens they dealt with. Suzie spiked his drink with Retcon, not wanting anything to get out about what she was telling him. So every week for nearly two years, she had been retconning Max. This had the side effect of weakening his mind and making him vulnerable to mind control techniques.

Waiting for a dead person to be handed over to Torchwood made Suzie start thinking of her father. Since she had been back in Cardiff, she had kept track of the old man and had found out early on that he had cancer and was only expected to survive about another nine months. Thinking about her father made her start to think back to when she and her mother had left Cardiff in the first place. She knew now that her father had been having an affair, and that it was what her parents were arguing about the night before they left.

Thinking about the fight led her to thinking about Mrs Pallister. She had lived down the road and would often give Suzie sweets or cakes and had often been called in to babysit her when she was younger. Before the fight between her parents, Suzie had not seen anything sinister in the friendship between Mrs Pallister and her father, and her mother had never mentioned anything, not even after they left. It wasn't until Suzie was older, and had learnt the meaning of the words she hadn't understood during the argument, that she realised her father had been cheating on her mother.

Another month passed, but no additional dead bodies had come under the care of Torchwood, and Suzie began to grow impatient. The imminent arrival of Ianto also left her uneasy, not being in charge of Torchwood 3 anymore would make it harder to insist they start using the glove again; it would no longer be her call. Under the influence of the glove, her hostility towards Mrs Pallister started to manifest itself as a plan to get her glove research moving again. She came back to the Hub that night and took the glove and knife. Mrs Pallister had to pay; she and her father had combined to ruin her childhood and they needed to pay.

Suzie slowly put together a plan where she would use the knife on three people – she steadfastly refused to use the word murder to herself – and then would use the glove to resurrect them. She was sure that if they used recently deceased bodies she would be more successful. She knew though that she would need to have a back-up plan if something went wrong and she was found out.

She started working on Max and started using some brain washing techniques on him. She programmed him so that if he didn't see her for six months, he would start killing the other members of Pilgrim and use their own blood to write Torchwood on the walls. She imprinted on him that six was a very important number.

When Ianto arrived, he was immediately interested in her research on the glove and he questioned her about it on his first day. While she was telling him about it she noticed a strange look cross his face at one stage and for a brief moment she was uncertain. Was she doing the right thing? Was there something about the glove that Ianto knew that she didn't? Whatever it was, it made Suzie step up her plans. When she left for the night, she stashed the glove and knife away in her handbag and later that night made her way to Sarah Pallister's house.

When Ianto turned up, with Jack in tow, it seemed almost pre-ordained. She had a job to do and she had failed, but maybe she could still save her research. When she regained consciousness at the Hub she quickly went over to her computer terminal and activated some programs she had written when she had first started planning what she would do with Mrs Pallister and the other two bodies.

And then, six months later, when she opened the letter she had left herself, she knew exactly what had to be done. She took a transmitter out of her drawer and slipped it into Tosh's handbag. Bringing it downstairs, she told Tosh they both needed to go to the Hub after all. She didn't say why, but simply told Tosh that she would be able to help with the investigation.

The transmitter was designed to send out an inaudible subliminal message to Max to set off a trigger that would place the Hub into a lockdown. She had intended to program Max with this trigger before she dealt with Mrs Pallister, but she had only had time to program the initial trigger before Ianto's arrival had forced her to change her plans. Suzie had placed the device into Tosh's handbag as she knew that when they brought Max back to the Hub he would be taken near where Tosh stored her bag. If she had kept the transmitter herself, she knew it would most likely be confiscated after she confessed to knowing who the killer was.

Suzie couldn't believe her luck when Gwen decided to let her out of the Hub. How could anyone be so stupid Suzie thought to herself. While Gwen was releasing Suzie from the chair, she looked away long enough to give Suzie a chance to remove the square of metal from within her shoe and place it in her pocket, ready for use.

They left the Hub unhindered, Suzie hoping that Max would trigger the shutdown in time to trap the rest of the team there. She thought briefly about Tosh, and regretted that she hadn't had a chance to speak to her before she left.

Suzie and Gwen made it out to the highway without any sign of pursuit, which Suzie took to mean the lockdown had worked. She closed her eyes for a while as she thought through what needed to happen next. Suzie thought briefly about going to the hospital where her father was, but decided against it. She needed to get out of there, not waste her time on the old man.

She pulled the square of metal out of her pocket and stroked it fondly. She could almost hear the glove in her head, telling her what to do. She looked sideways at Gwen driving and smiled in satisfaction. Gwen yawning tiredly gave her an opening.

"Tired?" she asked.

Gwen shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Don't want you falling asleep at the wheel. I think I should drive for a while."

Gwen looked at Suzie a couple of times before deciding maybe Suzie was right. She really did hate driving at night. She pulled over and they swapped over. Suzie didn't start the car immediately though, but sat and looked at Gwen instead.

"What?" Gwen asked in confusion.

Suzie smiled again and held the square of metal out to her. "Could you hold this for me?"

Gwen frowned in confusion. She couldn't work out why Suzie would want to give her the metal, but she reached her hand out anyway. As Gwen took hold of the square, she felt a burning pain rip through her whole body. The last thing she saw as unconsciousness overtook her, was a terrifying smile from Suzie.


	25. Chapter 25

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 25**

Ianto, Jack and Owen gathered around Tosh, who was sitting at her workstation, as they assessed their current situation.

"Everything's gone. The computers, mobile coverage, lifts, everything. We're sealed in." Tosh looked up at Ianto helplessly. "If Suzie set up the lockdown, how did she do it?"

"Entered an override?" Owen suggested.

"No, she's officially suspended. The computer wouldn't give her access," she replied.

Jack shook his head, feeling just as helpless. "Then how did she do it? What the hell did she do?"

They stood there and ran through all the possible options before Jack remembered they had a "guest" in the Hub.

Max Tresillian was sitting on the floor of his cell, rocking himself back and forth, while muttering the lines of a poem that Jack recognised to be an Emily Dickinson piece, over and over again. Jack's mind flashed back to when they had searched through Suzie's apartment, the night they had retconned her. He remembered looking through Suzie's book collection and having a quick flick through one of them; _"The Complete Poems"_, a compilation of Emily Dickinson's poetry.

Racing back upstairs to tell the others, they were then able to piece together what Suzie had obviously done. The realisation that Suzie must have arranged this months ago, right from the start, expecting something like this to happen, left them all both in shock and in awe of how clever Suzie had actually been.

To implant a trigger in Max to start murdering people in such a way that it would get Suzie's attention and help her break through the retcon, and to also implant a verbal trigger that would leave the rest of the team trapped in the Hub had obviously taken a great deal of thought and planning. The only thing they couldn't work out was the connection between Suzie and Max but, right at that particular moment in time, they didn't consider that a high priority.

None of them had noticed that Ianto had wandered off and sat down on the nearby stairs fiddling with some cables, until they heard him call out to Jack. He stood up and faced the others.

"I've got reception, Jack!"

Jack bounded over to Ianto in surprise. "How did you do that? We're sealed off."

Ianto handed over his mobile phone and shrugged. "Just used the water tower as a relay."

Jack looked at Ianto in amazement. Until then, he hadn't even realised that Ianto even had any technical skills that would be useful in their current situation. Jack took the phone and walked back towards the other two. He turned back to Ianto and smiled admiringly at him.

"Nice work, Ianto!"

Owen rolled his eyes as Jack and Ianto stood there looking at each other affectionately and he was sorely tempted to tell them to get a room. Jack lifted the phone to dial out, but then stopped.

"But who the hell do we phone?" he asked the room in general.

Ianto stepped closer and gave Jack an evil grin. "I think you should call your new best buddy..."

* * *

After Gwen collapsed, Suzie finally started the car and continued driving. She continued driving down the road, listening to the voice inside her head that seemed to her to be the glove talking to her from inside the Hub.

She glanced over at Gwen who had moved suddenly in her seat. She knew Gwen would not stay unconscious the whole time – it was just her initial reaction to the glove and the energy flowing from her through to Suzie, although she was taken aback a bit by how quickly Gwen had gone pale. The whiteness of her skin made her freckles stand out in great detail and even the colour of her eyes seemed to have been affected. As Suzie continued to drive though, she realised it wasn't really that surprising, given how much extra strength she could feel flowing through her. She knew she was getting close to that feeling of euphoria the previous owners of the glove had felt.

She turned the radio on, to see what was playing, and was stunned to hear a song playing that her mother used to sing to her when she was a kid. Tears started to roll down her face as her mind went back to happier times with her mother. She wished for a moment that she could have those happy times back, the only time in her life when she had felt safe and loved. She hadn't felt like that for so long. An image of Tosh crossed her mind. Since the incident with Mary and their subsequent closeness, she had started to feel like Tosh could help give her that feeling back again. She felt like Tosh could be the one she could come home to and feel secure with, but that was only until she had broken through the retcon and remembered the feelings she got from using the glove.

For a brief moment, she wanted desperately to turn the car around and go back to Tosh, but then the voices she heard coming from the glove took hold again and she realised that that was only a pipedream. Only by following and using the glove would she know true happiness, not through anything or anyone human.

With a determined look, she stepped on the accelerator and continued on her way to her destination.

* * *

"All right, Captain Jack, just say that one more time. Nice and clear." With an enormous grin on her face, Detective Swanson made sure that every member of her team had gathered around her phone and could hear Jack over the loudspeaker of the phone.

"We're locked in our base and we can't get out." Jack looked as uncomfortable as he felt as he heard the team's laughter come down the phone.

"OK, you've had your fun," he interjected as he sensed Ianto growing impatient behind him. "Now, listen, Detective Swanson, one of our team is in danger."

Kathy, sensing the moment for stirring Jack had passed, shooed her team away. "All right, you lot, back to work." She picked up the phone again as someone came back with a book in a brown paper bag. "OK, I've got it. 'The Complete Poems'. It's gonna cost you twenty quid."

Tosh had realised that if Suzie could lock down the Hub, she must have installed a way of reversing it, just in case. In response to Jack's instructions, Detective Swanson started reading the book out loud, verse by verse, until Tosh had an idea about using the ISBN of the book instead. Luckily, the detective had managed to obtain the same version of the book as what Suzie had and they were able to reverse the Hub's lockdown with the number. Once all their systems were running again, Tosh started to track down Gwen's car. When she found where the car was, she yelled the location out Ianto.

"Ianto, she's heading for the coast line on the B587. It's a place called Hedley Point, there's some sort of ferry, goes out to the islands."

Jack and Owen wasted no time running to the garage to get in the SUV and go after them. Ianto closed his eyes as he realised that was where he had dreamt Gwen and Suzie were driving through when that creature had appeared in front of them.

Tosh continued on, unaware of Ianto's discomfort. "There's something strange happening in the car though."

Ianto opened his eyes and went and stood behind Tosh to look at what she was trying to show him.

"There are three life signs, not two. But one's not human and one of the human life signs is very weak. I don't understand." Tosh looked at Ianto, confusion written all over her face.

Ianto looked at the readings on the screen thoughtfully. "The non-human life sign, have you seen that anywhere else?"

Tosh shook her head. "I'm running it for any matches in the system as we speak."

A couple of minutes later the computer found three other matches. Ianto and Tosh looked at each other in shock – the readings were coming from the Hub itself. Tosh grabbed a scanner and started looking for the signals. She walked over towards where her handbag was and the signal strength became stronger. She looked back at Ianto before putting the scanner down and opening her handbag. Almost straightaway, she found the transmitter Suzie had placed in there before they left her house. It was the source of the non-human signal.

When Ianto had first told her of what Suzie had done to cause the three murders, Tosh had been shocked at Suzie's actions. Finding the transmitter and realising Suzie had used her, left Tosh feeling sadness and a sense of betrayal. She too had hoped that she would find happiness with Suzie, something that had been lacking from her life for so long, but it seemed she had been wrong again.

Steeling herself, Tosh pulled the transmitter out of her bag and showed it to Ianto. Scans revealed the metal it had been made out of closely resembled the metal of the glove and the knife. That meant that the second and third signals would most likely be the glove and knife. Ianto took the scanner from Tosh and went back to the Secure Archives to check.

"Why would metal objects scan as life signs though?" Ianto asked as he came back with the container that housed the glove and knife. His scans had confirmed they were the source of the remaining two signals.

"Maybe there's a link between them?" Tosh theorised. She sent through the results of the scans to Owen to see what the doctor could work out.

In the SUV, Owen looked at the scans in alarm. "It must be the glove," he said over the comms. "It was only since she started working with the glove that she started changing. Somehow the glove, knife and that transmitter must be related."

"We've seen it before," Tosh continued. "Metallic resonance. Like, the glove works better if the knife or whatever are part of the process, like closing a circuit."

Owen agreed. "She must have something else with her, something also related to the glove. And somehow it's sucking the life out of Gwen." They all knew without speaking that the weaker human life sign would be Gwen, not Suzie.

They all stopped as Jack's phone started to ring. Recognising the number, he patched the call through to the comms system, so that everyone could hear the conversation.

"Did you like the poem, Jack?" came Suzie's voice over the phone.

"Suzie, don't let her die. The glove is killing Gwen."

"I know," Suzie replied coldly.

"Then stop!"

"But I get all her power. Why would I stop?" Suzie sounded genuinely confused by that suggestion.

"For Gwen's sake." Jack was similarly puzzled by Suzie's answers.

"Her? Why would I care about her?"

"Suzie, we've got a tracker on that car. We're gonna catch up. I promise."

"And what happens then?"

"If she's dead, then I'm gonna kill you, Suzie Costello. I promise. I'm gonna kill you."

"Jack," Ianto warned quietly from the Hub.

"But would you, when there's a part of her that's now me? Could you really do that if I'm the only thing left of her?"

"Just you watch me!"

"Jack!" Ianto practically yelled this time.

Jack screwed his nose up; looking like he was about to growl, but then the quieter voice of Tosh came over the comms.

"Suzie? What about me?" she asked sadly.

Suzie looked up to the skies and closed her eyes briefly. She didn't – couldn't – answer. Looking back at the road, she saw they had arrived at Hedley Point. She hung up the phone without another word and pulled up.

By now, Gwen had sunk back towards unconsciousness. She wasn't quite there, but enough of her energy had transferred over to Suzie that she was unable to walk unassisted. Suzie half dragged her out of the car and down the path towards the ferry berth. Midway there Gwen collapsed, no longer able to do anything. Suzie wasn't able to keep hold of her and Gwen fell to the ground.

Realising Gwen could go no further, and that she could not carry her, Suzie wished her a safe journey and kept running as she heard the SUV screech to a halt behind them. Suzie saw the ferry in the distance as she ran to the end of the dock. It wasn't going to get there before Jack did. Owen stopped to look after Gwen.

Suzie stopped and turned to face Jack. They looked at each other hatefully as Jack cocked his gun and pointed it at her.

"If I kill you, does she live?" he asked.

"But you can't, Jack. 'Cause look at me. I'm the last thing left of Gwen Cooper. Can't you see it? Just the smallest bit of her?"

Jack raised an eyebrow and shook his head slightly. "Not one bit." He replied, and shot Suzie in the chest.

She spun around and collapsed to the ground. Jack turned to Owen who indicated there was no change with Gwen.

"But I broke the connection!" He turned back around as Suzie started to move again. He raised his gun to shoot again, when Suzie's phone started to ring.

Suzie looked at Jack, who didn't respond, so she dug her phone out of her pocket and answered it. She knew that ringtone.

Jack watched Suzie carefully as she listened to whoever it was on the phone. Suzie didn't do much talking; seemingly content to listen to whomever it was on the other end. She started to cry a few times and occasionally it looked like she was going to get angry at whatever it was she was hearing but eventually Suzie's head lowered in defeat.

"Destroy the glove," she whispered. "That will return everything to normal."

Tosh ran to the container holding the glove and pulled it out. Using the gun that she always carried with her, she shot the glove to smithereens.

* * *

An hour later, everyone arrived back at the Hub. Owen drove Gwen back in her car, while Jack drove the SUV with Suzie handcuffed in the back seat.

As soon as the glove had been destroyed, Gwen had gasped back to life. She was considerably weak, but her life was no longer in danger.

Suzie had collapsed at the same, the loss of Gwen's energy and the bullet that was still lodged inside her, combining to make her very weak. Reluctantly, Owen treated her enough to make her stable enough to transport back to the Hub. They put her back into the cell she had originally been in, Ianto issuing strict instructions she was not to be removed from it under any circumstances. He made extra sure that Gwen understood this applied to her too.

While they were down in the cells, they found that Max Tresillian had died. Owen looked him over and it seemed he had had a heart attack around the same time that the glove had been destroyed.

* * *

Ianto was in the morgue writing out Max's death certificate when Jack came down to find him.

"Thanks for doing this," Jack said.

"Part of my job, Jack, as Director. Besides, I think you've been left to do this far too many times as it is."

"No, I should be doing it, but..." Jack sighed and leant back against the wall, looking away from Ianto. "One day we're gonna to run out of space." His head sunk, unable to look around him any longer.

Ianto stopped writing on the clipboard and looked carefully at Jack. He could see the exhaustion and sadness in his face. Even though Suzie hadn't been hired by Jack, they had still worked together for a long time and had developed a good working relationship. This whole affair was taking its toll on Jack, and Ianto wanted to do something special for him.

"If you're interested, I've still got that stopwatch," Ianto smiled over at Jack.

Jack, still lost in his thoughts on Suzie and how many people he'd had to put in the morgue over the years, didn't catch the hidden meaning in Ianto's words. He raised his head again and looked over at him. "So?"

"Well, think about it. Lots of things you can do with a stopwatch."

Ianto and Jack looked at each other steadily until Jack broke out into an enormous grin as he realised exactly what Ianto was offering. His grin was so joyful and full of promise that it caused Ianto's entire body to respond and he knew right there and then that there wasn't a single thing he wouldn't do for Jack.

"Oh, yeah. I can think of a few," Jack was finally able to reply.

"There's quite a list."

"Send the others home early. I'll see you in your office in ten."

"That's ten minutes…" Ianto pulled out the stopwatch and clicked the button, "…and counting."

As Jack walked away, the smile fell off Ianto's face. He closed Max's drawer and looked at the next one over. There had been a body in that vault since 1901, but there was no record of who was in it. Whoever it was, the previous directors had not even told the committee about it, instead only leaving a note for each successive director saying that the vault should never be touched and special care to be taken that it would always stay working, no matter what happened to the Hub. Ianto ran his finger over the numbers on the drawer; clearly, someone important was in there.

He wondered anew who it was, but for now, Jack was waiting…


	26. Chapter 26

Many thanks to sd4ianto, LittleMonsters, TearfullPixie, BrookSCW, Mickanella, schlo5398 and "guest" for their reviews of the last few chapters - they've been a nice confidence boost after three chapters in a row with no reviews at all. :)

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 26**

Given that the team had worked throughout the night and it was now actually morning, it wasn't really a case of letting them go early, it was more a case of just getting them all the hell out of there.

Preferably sooner than later.

When Ianto had finished with Max's body, he raced back upstairs and told the three of them to take the rest of the day off and go home. Gwen, still feeling out of sorts after the night's events, had no arguments with that and left straight away. Owen still had a few things he wanted to get done but it took him less than a second to decide to leave them for the next day and to follow after her. Ianto got the impression he was actually going home alone for once, while Gwen would be going home to her boyfriend instead. Tosh was the only one who seemed to be reluctant to leave the Hub.

With Suzie being locked away down in the cells until Ianto decided what to do with her, Tosh would be left on her own. It would also be the first time she had been back to her own flat alone, since the incident with Mary. Ianto could tell she wanted to hang around longer, but he had other things on his mind and so, as gently, but as firmly, as he could he encouraged her to go. He told her they would discuss what was going to happen with Suzie tomorrow, but for now she would be fine down in the cells. She had been provided with enough food and drink to last her for twenty-four hours, and after that, Ianto would be making a decision on her future anyway.

The seconds seemed to drag before Tosh got ready to leave and when she finally left, he immediately raced up to his office, slowing down as he got there, not wanting to seem over eager. He only just made it within the ten minutes, but judging by the enormous grin that still adorned Jack's face, he knew it wouldn't have mattered how long he took, just as long as he got there within a reasonable time. He stood in the doorway and the two men stood there and looked steadily at each other, anticipation written all over their faces.

Ianto stepped forward and took a deep breath to steady himself; he knew that this would finally be it. He had waited long enough to give himself totally to Jack and it wasn't fair on either of them to keep him waiting any longer. Ianto was surprised to find however that he didn't feel anywhere as nervous as he thought he would be, he found instead that it felt very, very right.

Jack walked up to him, reached a hand into Ianto's pocket and drew out the stopwatch. He clicked the button on the top and looked at the time. "Nine minutes, fifty six seconds," he stated, still grinning. "You were nearly late."

Ianto found himself returning the grin. "And what would you have done about it if I was?" he said with mock bravado.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Quite a lot of things. Apparently, there's quite a list…"

They both laughed. Jack placed the stopwatch on the desk behind them and turned back to Ianto. He reached out, gently took hold of the knot on Ianto's tie and slid his hand down its length while he appeared to be considering something. He leant in, his face just millimetres from Ianto's.

"I think you're wearing too many clothes, Mr Jones," Jack said, his voice slightly husky as he reached back up and started to undo the knot on Ianto's tie. Loosening the tie, he hooked it around the back of Ianto's neck and draped the ends over his shoulders. Pausing to kiss Ianto's lips lightly, he turned back and grabbed the stopwatch again. Ianto looked at him curiously.

"How quickly do you think you can get out of them?" Jack asked, holding the stopwatch up beside him.

Ianto looked at the stopwatch. "You want to see who can get undressed the fastest? We don't need the stopwatch for that."

"Oh, yes we do. You go first, and then we time me," Jack replied.

Ianto eyed Jack's braces, shirt, undershirt, trousers and boots. Jack had already given him a head start by taking his tie off for him. "I got this easily," he said.

If possible, Jack's grin got even larger at that statement. "We'll see!" He was just about to move his hands when Ianto stopped him.

"Wait, I should probably turn off the CCTV. Don't want to give the others any gossip material." As Jack nodded, Ianto walked around the desk to his computer and started to shut the system down. "I'll tell the others we were running some maintenance scans, after the thing with Suzie today."

As Ianto bent over the desk to finish shutting the CCTV system down, he took the tie off from around his neck as it was getting in his way. When he started to walk back to the other side of the desk, Jack shook his head and pointed.

"Not without the tie!" he exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"I have plans for that tie."

Ianto moved back to stand in front of Jack, who took the tie from his unresisting hands. Ianto's eyes widened as Jack raised it to eye level and tied it behind Ianto's head.

"Jack?" he questioned.

"Just making it a bit more interesting," came the response.

Ianto gulped, feeling a bit self-conscious about standing there blindfolded. I can still do this, he thought. I know where all the parts of me are; I don't need to see them to get undressed.

"Are you ready?" Jack asked him.

Ianto nodded and as soon as he heard the click of the stopwatch starting, he reached up and started unbuttoning his shirt. Jack watched him keenly for the first few buttons, eagerly taking in every inch of skin that was uncovered and feeling his body stir in response. Then he quietly moved closer to Ianto, to begin the game for real. If Ianto thought he was going to just stand there getting undressed, without any interference, he had another thing coming.

As Ianto raised his arms to shrug off his jacket and shirt, Jack moved in. By now, Jack had learnt all of Ianto's ticklish spots and he intended to put that knowledge to good use. He placed his hands on either side of Ianto's body and pounced. He laughed as Ianto instinctively curled his arms back in on himself, nearly getting tangled in his sleeves as he did so.

"Hey!" Ianto yelped, trying not to laugh too much. "That's cheating!"

Jack shook his head, and then remembering Ianto couldn't see him, spoke out loud. "No, it's not. At no stage did I ever say I couldn't tickle you."

"Well that's hardly fair, given you're not ticklish at all," Ianto retorted good-naturedly, trying to fend Jack's hands off.

Jack laughed back. "Them's the rules!" Jack continued his assault on Ianto as he tried in vain to get his clothes off quickly. No matter which way he turned though, Jack was still able to get his hands on him and tickled him constantly. Being blindfolded while trying to escape Jack's wandering hands meant he inevitably lost his balance and Jack had to grab hold of him to make sure he didn't fall over.

Jack left him alone as he bent over to untie his shoes, partly because he didn't want Ianto to hurt himself by losing his balance again, but mostly because as soon as he had bent over, Jack's attention was totally distracted by the sight of Ianto's trousers stretched tightly across his very enticing backside. Jack raised his bottom jaw with a snap, not wanting to start drooling.

"Five minutes, thirty-six seconds," Jack called as he clicked the stopwatch off when Ianto was finally naked.

Ianto ripped the tie off his head in relief. "Your turn," he said, holding up the tie.

Jack shook his head. "That's your tie. I don't have to wear it."

Ianto raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips. "You're making these rules up as you go, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Jack shrugged, earning an eye roll from Ianto. He watched in amusement as Ianto stood there, apparently working out what he would do next.

Ianto dropped his tie on the desk and stood directly in front of Jack. After looking mischievously into Jack's eyes, he took the stopwatch out of Jack's hand and proceeded to un-clip the front of his braces. Ianto walked around behind him, Jack's head turning slightly, trying to keep an eye on him.

"They're too thin to use as a blindfold," Jack warned.

Ianto chuckled softly. "I'm not blindfolding you with them."

Jack nearly gasped in surprise as he felt Ianto pull his arms behind him and place his wrists together. When he felt Ianto start tying the braces around his wrists, he started to protest.

"Tough," Ianto said back. "At no stage did you ever say I couldn't tie you up."

Jack grunted, nearly pouting, as he heard Ianto deliberately misquote his own comment back to use against him. Ianto stood back in front of him again and, grinning nearly as brightly as Jack previously had been, clicked the stopwatch on.

Ianto laughed in delight as he watched Jack struggle with the knots he had tied. Ianto hadn't made the knots too complicated, just hard enough to severely slow Jack down. Complicated knots could wait for another time…

As the timer approached five minutes, Jack finally worked his way through the knots and he threw his braces onto the ground. Ianto glanced at the stopwatch in concern – he knew full well how quickly Jack could get undressed when he wanted to. He shook his head in fond amusement as Jack practically ripped his clothes off; Ianto was sure he'd find some stray buttons on the floor the next day, judging by how quickly Jack's shirt was undone.

As soon as he was finished, Jack stepped forward and grabbed the stopwatch away from Ianto and stopped the timer.

"Well?" Ianto asked as Jack stood there looking at the result. Ianto stepped over to have a look, but Jack held the stopwatch away from him, hiding it from Ianto's view. "Jack! Show me!"

Ianto had to laugh at the look on Jack's face as he finally let Ianto have the stopwatch back. Five minutes, forty-three seconds – seven seconds slower than Ianto.

"Ha!" Ianto responded cheekily. "Do I get a reward?"

Jack reached out and placed his hands on Ianto's hips, pulling him closer. "You want a reward?" he growled suggestively. He pulled Ianto closer still, so that their bodies were pressed together and pressed his lips to Ianto's in a bruising kiss.

When they eventually came up for air, they were both panting heavily and thoughts of further stopwatch games suddenly had less appeal. Ianto pushed Jack backwards gently, trying to get within reach of the desk so he could put the stopwatch down. As he was reaching out towards the desk though, Jack moved his hands lower down Ianto's body and grabbed hold of his backside. Ianto jerked slightly, not expecting the sudden sensations and, before he knew it, the stopwatch was knocked out of his hands and fell to the floor. They both stopped and looked down at the stopwatch; the glass front of it had shattered and was in several pieces on the floor surrounding the body of the stopwatch.

"Jack, I'm sorr…" Ianto began earnestly.

"It's OK. We can get it fixed." Jack placed a finger over Ianto's mouth to quieten him. He looked back the stopwatch for a moment. "There's a new shop in the mall I've been meaning to check out that sells antique clocks and other time pieces. I'm sure they'll be able to fix it for me."

Ianto nodded.

"Besides," Jack continued, "I think we have more important things to do just at the moment…"

Ianto nodded again.

"…and I don't want you cheating again!" Jack finished.

"Cheating! Me?" Ianto poked Jack in the stomach. "You were the one making up the rules as you went. You were the one cheating, not me."

"I was not cheating," Jack proclaimed. "And besides, how would you know if those were the rules or not?"

This time when Ianto pushed Jack towards the desk, he wasn't quite as gentle as before and Jack sat down on the edge of the desk with a thump. Jack's knees parted as Ianto pushed between his legs and he leant down to whisper in Jack's ear. "Because I know everything!"

Ianto straightened up again and the two of them looked into each other's eyes again and they burst into laughter. The laughter soon stopped though, as the mood changed and their staring at each other became more serious, more meaningful.

"Jack…" Ianto began nervously, suddenly all too aware of where things were leading now.

Jack stood up straight away and held Ianto close. "It's OK, Ianto. Whatever happens here, you're in charge, we'll do everything at your pace. You can trust me." He put a finger under Ianto's chin and raised his head to kiss him tenderly. After the kiss, Jack looked at Ianto again and his heart twinged as he saw the emotions shimmering in Ianto's eyes.

After a childhood where physical contact had meant either punishment or pain, and usually at the hand of a male, usually his father, it had taken Ianto a long time to be truly comfortable in an ongoing intimate relationship. But once he was comfortable with both himself and the relationship, Lisa had found him to be very tactile and responsive to touch.

Being with another man however was a different story. Ianto knew, deep down, that he really _could_ trust Jack; he knew Jack wasn't going to hurt him, but as it was mostly men who had hurt him in the past, there was still an amount of uncertainty lingering in the back of his mind. And his own doubts on top of that, had so far stopped him from taking his relationship with Jack any further. Doubt in himself, doubt that he would be good enough for Jack, doubt that he would keep Jack's interest afterwards… if he had nothing left to offer.

Swallowing nervously again, Ianto nodded back at Jack. Jack brushed his fingers over Ianto's cheek softly, and then took hold of his hand and led him to the ladder to his bunker. Once they climbed down the ladder they stood beside the bed and Jack started to kiss Ianto once more. Losing himself in the feel of Jack's kiss and the scent of Jack's pheromones, Ianto's nerves gradually righted themselves again and he found himself able to enjoy Jack's touch once more. At Jack's silent urging they lay down on the bed, barely breaking their kiss as they did so.

Jack settled Ianto on the bed, lying face up and told him to just lie there and let him do all the work for now. Jack trailed increasingly urgent kisses down the side of his face and neck. Ianto closed his eyes in pleasure, letting himself just feel. He gasped as Jack's mouth moved down to his nipple and teased it gently with his teeth. Ianto's hand came up and rested on the back of Jack's head, his fingers running through Jack's hair. Jack heard Ianto's breathing become more and more ragged as he continued moving his hands over Ianto's body; he was delighted at how responsive Ianto was to his touch, his skin quivering as Jack touched the more sensitive parts of his body.

Jack's head moved lower, kissing down his sides and across his stomach. Placing a hand on Ianto's hip, he slid his hand over Ianto's groin and down to the top of his thigh. Jack looked back up at Ianto and was encouraged to see he was looking comfortable with what they were doing.

Unbeknown to Ianto, Jack had done some research into Ianto's past after they first met in that night in the park, and he had dug even deeper after they became closer. He had heard enough from Ianto's dreams to know that there had been a great deal of trauma in his past, beyond that of Canary Wharf and losing Lisa, and there were also all those scars on his body that he couldn't bring himself to talk about.

Jack was surprised to find that Ianto's childhood records had mostly been sealed but, by pulling in some favours from some friends, he was able to discover there had been a number of incidents reported to Child Services. Nothing had ever been proven, but there were a number of incidents where the young Ianto had been admitted to hospital and the nurse or doctor had suspected child abuse. Nothing had ever been taken any further but it was enough to give Jack an insight into why Ianto reacted the way he did, and it gave Jack plenty of time to consider the best way to treat Ianto when it came to being intimate with anyone.

He wanted to make love to Ianto tenderly; this wasn't simply to be about two men having sex. As comfortable as Ianto was, Jack could still feel some underlying tension remaining in Ianto's body and knew, that for this time at least, he wasn't to play any games. He simply needed to show Ianto how special he was and how fantastic they could be together.

Ianto gasped in pleasant surprise as Jack took him into his mouth. Jack pushed down on his hips to hold him against the bed as Ianto instinctively began push himself upwards into the warmth of Jack's mouth. Jack licked and sucked, paying close attention to how aroused Ianto was. When he felt that Ianto was getting close to coming, he released him, hearing a faint groan in response, and got up on his hands and knees. Moving back up to be level with Ianto's head, he leant down and kissed him deeply.

Ianto had by now opened his eyes again and his hands were roaming over Jack's chest, feeling the firm, hard muscles. His fingers sought out Jack's nipples, the pads of his thumbs rubbing around the hardened nubs before he slid his hands around to Jack's back, pulling him down against him. Jack groaned in delight as Ianto ran his nails down his back.

Jack reached over his night-stand and pulled a small container of lube out and then paused as he caught sight of something else in the drawer. He looked at Ianto. "Do you need me to use a condom?"

Ianto looked at him uncomfortably, not knowing what to say. Jack had not slept with anyone since his last death so he knew he would be clean and as Ianto had been required to undergo a full set of blood tests when he was being treated after Canary Wharf they decided not to use any protection.

Jack placed a pillow under Ianto's hips and proceeded to prepare Ianto carefully. When he felt Ianto was ready, he entered him slowly and then stopped. He watched Ianto's face intently, waiting for the moment when he was comfortable with Jack being inside him before moving again.

Lying there, watching Jack above him, Ianto felt overwhelmed. He had not expected to feel as… _full_… as he did with Jack inside him. The feeling was so unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and after the initial discomfort passed, he thought he had never felt anything so good. He wrapped his legs around Jack's waist, trying to encourage him and changing the angle of penetration, causing a loud groan from Jack.

Hearing Jack's groans of pleasure served to heighten Ianto's own pleasure. Knowing he was the cause of Jack being so aroused was a turn on in itself. Each of them fed off the sounds of the other's pleasure, pushing them both further and further.

When Jack was getting close to coming, he reached down and started stroking Ianto's erection, wanting them both to come at the same time. Ianto's legs clenched around him even tighter and Jack knew he was close. Jack couldn't hold on any longer and as he started to come, so did Ianto, a considerable amount of grunting coming from the pair of them with neither of them exactly capable of saying anything coherent.

After they came, they held on to each other tightly as their shuddering gradually stopped and their breathing returned to normal. Jack feathered warm, soft kisses over Ianto's face and a satisfied grin crossed his face at the sight of him. He lay on his side facing towards Jack, his eyes half closed, his chest still heaving, and his cheeks, neck and upper chest flushed red. He looked totally spent. Jack ran his fingers through Ianto's hair, caressing his face gently; he wanted to remember this moment for a very long time.

The chill of the underground base slowly started to sink in and Jack reached across Ianto to pull the covers over the both of them. They lay there, snuggled into their cocoon of blankets, their arms wrapped around each other and their legs intertwined, and as they both fell asleep, Jack realised he felt the most contented he had felt in quite a while.

And when Ianto woke later that afternoon, feeling calmer and more relaxed than he had any right to feel after what had happened with Suzie, he realised with great joy that for the first time since several months before Canary Wharf, he had actually slept the whole way through without any nightmares at all.


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note:** Wow! Thank you for the brilliant responses to the previous chapter! It was the first time I had written an "adult" scene, so I was more than a little nervous about how it would turn out. Thanks again.

**A Good Man**  
**Chapter 27**

Hours later, and after exhausting the Hub's entire hot water supply, Ianto and Jack finally dragged themselves out of the shower. A supposedly quick shower to wake themselves up properly had soon turned into an invigorating "Round 2" that returned the two men back to the hot and sweaty state that had led them to the shower in the first place.

Compared to the care and consideration shown by Jack for their first time, their session in the shower was more fun and experimental as Ianto became more and more comfortable being with Jack, and more prepared to try out different things.

Too tired to do any cooking afterwards, they decided to treat themselves to dinner at a nearby restaurant before retiring to Ianto's flat for the night. Tired as they were neither man had much energy afterwards, but that didn't stop them for a final round of leisurely sex before falling asleep for the night. Making up for lost time, was Ianto's last thought as he fell asleep in Jack's arms.

* * *

In the mall, at "A Stitch in Time", the two senior committee members and a third committee member stood by patiently watching while their leader decided what his next move would be.

Bilis was relatively happy with how things had turned out with Suzie Costello. She and her little love-bird looked to be on rocky ground, Suzie was close to being suspended, or worse, from Torchwood and she was most definitely on the outer with most of the team.

And there was an added bonus; Gwen Cooper also seemed to get herself in trouble with her decision to take Suzie out of the Hub. Maybe she would be a good candidate to work on next. She had certainly appeared easy to manipulate.

Nodding his head in satisfaction at his plans, he closed his eyes and held a hand out, open and palm facing up, in front of him. Muttering something under his breath, a bright blue light appeared above his hand. When the light died away, a blue ball-shaped object had appeared. He held the object out to the third committee member waiting there.

"Take this to Mr Garrett, he's a science teacher. He plays golf; he plays really badly and will be stuck in the first bunker, striking away at all the sand. Make sure it falls out of the sky and falls beside him so that he knows it is alien," he ordered.

The committee member bowed in acknowledgement and Bilis waved his hand at him, causing the committee member to disappear from sight, sent back in time to 1992. The two senior members gathered quickly near their leader and they stood in a circle, the three men beginning to chant quietly. The two committee members combined their skills with their leader's, to help him make sure the third man got back to the time Bilis needed him to be in.

They needed to make sure that only the events that Bilis wanted changed were actually changed, and no others. Bilis needed some happenings changed, but he also needed to make sure that everything else stayed on track, so that the future he was aiming for could still happen. He wasn't going to stop chipping away at Jack Harkness' companions until that much anticipated future came about.

* * *

At the flat, Ianto cried out in his sleep and Jack instinctively tightened his grip around him to protect his lover, but neither man was woken up.

And all around them, time shifted.

* * *

The committee members stopped their chanting and Bilis Manger looked up and smiled ominously. It was done.

* * *

"He's dead!" Gwen burst into the Hub the next morning in tears.

Ianto came out of the office to see what was going on. Tosh and Owen were sitting at their desks, open mouthed at her appearance. When he saw how upset she was, Jack immediately raced over to hold and comfort her.

"Who's dead?" he asked gently.

"Eugene!"

Ianto was about to ask who Eugene was but then he shook his head in exasperation as it all came flooding back to him. Of course he knew who Eugene was. They all knew Eugene very well. Too well in fact.

Eugene Jones. He was one of the first people Ianto had met when he came to Torchwood 3. The night that Suzie was retconned, he had turned up outside Sarah Pallister's house before they had a chance to get away. Eugene was disappointed to find that Gwen wasn't there at the time, and he had soon disappeared. He was also hanging around the car park the day that Jack first took Ianto out to Flat Holm Island, but was again upset that Gwen wasn't with them. Ianto realised he didn't actually know when Eugene had gone home either time; he just appeared to have vanished into nothingness. But then, Eugene had always been very good at turning up out of nowhere and then seemingly disappearing soon afterwards.

Eugene had been treated as a bit of a joke by the Torchwood team over the years, especially after he developed his not-so-subtle crush on Gwen. He would continually turn up wherever the team were and was continually trying to give Gwen copies of his research about whatever his latest alien theory was. Owen would barely even speak to him, even Tosh and Suzie ignored him whenever he turned up, and Ianto and Jack tried to brush him off as best they could. It was only Gwen who ever spoke to him, and even though that was mostly to tell him he needed to leave and that they couldn't help him, he still took it as a sign that there was something between the two of them.

Ianto couldn't understand the attraction; actually, he couldn't understand what everyone saw in Gwen in the first place. There was her boyfriend Rhys, who worshipped the ground she walked on, she was having the affair with Owen, she hero-worshipped Jack who always responded in kind with the flirtatious Harkness charm and there was this Eugene kid as well.

Jack continued to comfort Gwen, who was insisting they needed to investigate his death. She thought that there might have been something important in what he had been trying to show them after all and she suggested someone might have been trying to silence him. Jack was the only one who didn't scoff at that suggestion and Ianto watched them carefully to see how the two of them were interacting.

More in an effort to keep Gwen quiet, rather than because he actually believed there was a case there, Ianto eventually sent her out with Jack and Tosh to investigate the scene. To Ianto, it sounded like a stock standard road accident, but he could see how much it meant to Gwen, so he let them go and have a look around to satisfy her curiosity.

Getting them out of the Hub did at least give him the advantage of being able to decide what to do about Suzie in peace. He sent Owen, who had absolutely refused to go to the scene with the others, down to the cells to check up on her and make sure she was all right, health-wise. Ianto went and sat down in his office to deliberate over what to do about Suzie.

Try as he might though, he found himself unable to think about Suzie, as his mind kept drifting back to the previous day and afternoon and night with Jack. It seemed like he had waited so long to shag Jack and now that it had finally happened he couldn't really remember why he had been so unsure about it all. It had been so much better than he could have ever of hoped to imagine.

Ianto shifted in his chair, trying to get a bit more comfortable as recollections of the previous afternoon caused his body to react in a very unprofessional way. He leant back in the chair a bit, trying to relieve the sudden tightness in his trousers and placed his hands behind his head, a half-smile on his face.

"Bloody hell!" Owen exclaimed, unexpectedly entering Ianto's office and seeing the look of satisfaction on the director's face. "Looks like someone got lucky last night."

Ianto sat back up quickly, trying to suppress a grin at that statement. "Don't know what you're talking about," he replied.

"Oh, don't give me that! You finally let him shag you didn't you."

Ianto looked down at the desk, suddenly needing to occupy himself with straightening an already tidy pile of papers, unable to look Owen in the eye. Despite himself, a smile crossed his face.

"I knew it! So what was it like?" Owen stopped and screwed up his nose. "Actually no, don't answer that. They're not mental pictures that I want to have!"

Luckily for Ianto, his desk phone started to ring, saving him from any more questions. He waved Owen out of the office and picked up the phone.

"Major Tomich!" Ianto greeted one of his contacts in UNIT. "What can I do for you?"

* * *

Jack, Tosh and Gwen came back to the Hub, Eugene's body in tow. The body was a taken down to the Autopsy Room and placed in a drawer until they had decided whether to investigate further.

Before that could happen however, Ianto needed to inform the team what would be happening with Suzie. He called them all into the boardroom.

Everyone looked at Ianto in shock as he told them that Suzie would be sent back to UNIT for an indefinite time. She would be demoted to an administration role; similar to what she was doing when she first joined UNIT.

Publicly, the murders of Alex Arwyn and Mark and Sara Briscoe had been attributed to Max Tresillian, and even though Kathy Swanson had been present when Gwen had asked what Compound B67 was, the detective had nothing to pin on anyone in Torchwood for the murders. This meant any punishment of Suzie would be an entirely internal matter.

"You're sending her away?" Tosh asked quietly. "For how long?"

"I don't know Tosh. It depends on her, and how she acts. I have a friend in UNIT who will look after her and make sure she gets any treatment she needs, we'll see what he says."

"Look after her? I know exactly how UNIT look after people!" Tosh replied bitterly.

Ianto reached out and placed his hand gently over Tosh's hand. "Tosh, I know how you feel about UNIT and I understand that. But she does still technically work for them, not us, and any disciplinary actions have to come from them. Major Tomich is a friend of mine, and I promise he won't let anyone hurt her."

Tosh looked back at him silently.

"I promise," Ianto repeated firmly.

Tosh finally nodded back.

"She'll be escorted to UNIT later this afternoon, so if you want to spend some time with her, don't worry about this case for the rest of the day. You can go downstairs and be with her instead. But make sure you don't let her out of the cell. Under any circumstances, OK?"

Tosh nodded again and fled the room.

Ianto looked around at the others and told them that was the end of the meeting. They would go out to Eugene's house a bit later, but he had a couple of other matters to deal with first. As the three started to leave the room, Ianto asked Gwen to stay behind. Jack shut the door behind him as he left.

Gwen sat back down again, reluctance clearly showing all over her face. She knew what was coming – that admonishment to Tosh not to let Suzie out of the cell? She knew it was directed at her.

Ianto looked at her thoughtfully.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Gwen sighed. "The day off helped, after that thing with Suzie." She shuddered. "I can't believe I came so close to dying! I can't believe Suzie would do that to me."

"Then why did you do it? Seriously Gwen, what were you thinking when you took her out of the Hub?"

"I… I…" Gwen shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. She told me about her father – did you know he's dying of cancer – and how he's been in hospital for so long, and no one's been to visit him, and I just wanted to help."

"You know there's no record of her father on file Gwen? According to her files, he is listed as unknown."

Gwen shook her head, wide-eyed.

"UNIT have also told me that she had tampered with all her files, so who knows what is true and what is not, but regardless of what the truth with Suzie is, one fact remains. Once again, you have shown a serious lack of judgement, one which again could have had fatal consequences!"

"But it was me who nearly died, not anyone else," Gwen exclaimed indignantly.

"Yes, this time. But what if it wasn't you who took hold of that piece of metal she had from the glove? What if it was some innocent bystander that she gave it to? What then, Gwen?" Ianto asked angrily.

Gwen blinked rapidly a few times, trying to process what Ianto was implying. She hadn't thought about anyone else getting hurt, she had been so in shock about what had happened to her that she simply was unable to think beyond that. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt; she was just trying to do the right thing.

"We stopped her though," she replied.

"No. Not we. It was Toshiko, she was the one who got through to Suzie and got out of her what needed to be done to end it. Tosh, who was already hurting, had to come in and save the day for you."

"But I was just trying to help…"

"Gwen, I don't doubt that for a minute. But things aren't always that simple. You need to think things through a bit more before you act, you need to see the bigger picture and act accordingly. Rushing head first into things, just because it seems the right thing to do, is just going to get people hurt. Or worse."

Gwen looked down at the table, unable to face Ianto.

"Gwen," Ianto continued, more gently this time. "Think about what I said. I need to be able to trust you, I can't have anyone in my team doing their own thing."

She nodded her head slightly.

"So, consider this an official warning. No action will be taken against you, but don't do anything like this again. OK?"

When Gwen nodded her head again, Ianto sighed in relief. He asked her what they had found out about Eugene. Gwen wanted to go to Eugene's house and see if they could find anything relevant.

"Fair enough," Ianto replied. "I want to talk to Jack before you go though."

Ianto stood up as Gwen left, and he walked over to the doorway to watch her go down to Jack. They talked to each other for a bit – Ianto couldn't hear what they were saying from where he was – before Jack gave her a hug. Ianto frowned as he watched how they held each other, he seemed to have memories of other times they had hugged, or had other physical contact. It seemed to be just those two though, neither of them seemed to be so touchy feely with anyone else in the team.

"Jack!" he called out, a bit more harshly than he had intended. "I need to speak to you."

Jack eventually broke away from Gwen and looked up at Ianto, flashing him one of his brilliant smiles. "Coming!"

Ianto sat back in his seat, and motioned at Jack to sit down too when he came back into the room.

"What's up?" Jack asked, puzzled by the look on Ianto's face. He reached out to Ianto, but was shocked to see him pull away. "Ianto?"

Ianto sat there, his eyes seemingly searching Jack for something. "I just spoke to Gwen about what happened the other day."

"She did mention it," Jack replied.

Ianto frowned at the interruption and carried on. "I told her that I needed to be able to trust my team members. That means all of them Jack, including you."

The concern on Jack's face was replaced with disappointment. "You can trust me Ianto! I thought we'd moved on past that, I thought you had forgiven me over Lisa?"

Ianto looked puzzled for a minute. "No, no, no. I don't mean about Lisa, I meant about what happened the other day. You went off the handle at Suzie. You threatened to kill her, and even when I told you to stop, you threatened her life again."

"She was killing Gwen, Ianto! I had to stop her!" Jack leant forward angrily as he spoke.

"I'm aware of that, Jack, but this is my team. I am the one who decides what happens to my team members, not you."

"You put me in charge…"

"Of field missions only," Ianto interrupted. "I am still in charge here, it is still my call what happens here."

Jack sat back and looked coldly at Ianto. "Yes, _Director,_" he answered almost sullenly.

Ianto sighed, he didn't want to argue with Jack but by the same token, he didn't want things to get out of hand either. He was about to suggest the two of them go out for lunch, wanting to smooth things over between them, when Jack stood up.

"Was there anything else you wanted, _boss_?" he asked.

All thoughts of lunch faded away when he heard the tone of Jack's voice. He'd better give Jack some space instead.

He shook his head. "No, that's all."

Jack turned and left without another word. Ianto stayed in the boardroom a while longer, wanting to give the others time to process what had happened this morning without their boss breathing down their necks.

When he finally came out, Owen and Gwen were at their desks, Tosh was still down with Suzie and Jack was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Jack?"

"He's gone," Gwen replied, giving Ianto a scathing look. "Whatever it was you said to him upset him so much that he left without taking either his comms or his phone." She held up the devices and brandished them accusingly at Ianto. "I have no idea where he is."

"CCTV?"

"Already checked," Owen interjected before Gwen said something she shouldn't. "But he's managed to avoid the cameras. He's been around long enough, he knows how to get to places without being seen."

Ianto looked away in disappointment, trying to hide the hurt he felt. The day had started off so well. He woke up wrapped in Jack's arms, feeling the safest and most secure he ever had, but since they woke up, things had gone downhill drastically.

What had changed?


	28. Chapter 28

**A Good Man**  
**Chapter 28**

Unusually for him, Jack hadn't found himself a tall building to stand on top of. He was in fact currently standing across the road from his grandson's school, watching him from a distance. Jack did this from time to time, just checked in to see how Steven was growing up, how he was getting on. He could never do the same with Alice though; she was too sharp and would always spy him out.

Watching Steven playing both calmed and saddened Jack. Calmed him, because it reminded Jack that yes, he could have kids and do the "normal" thing if the circumstances were right; and it saddened him, because everything always seemed to go wrong eventually and Jack would always lose out.

After he left Estelle during the war, he promised himself never again. There was no point getting involved with or becoming close to someone, since he would eventually move on, or the other person would die, or they would leave him themselves.

Then Lucia Moretti came along and, just for a moment, he thought this time would be different. Working for Torchwood, she already knew about his immortality and some of his other secrets before they even got involved, so he thought just maybe she would be the one who would stand by him. But then, as her aging became more and more apparent, in comparison to him, he could see the disgust and hatred starting to burn.

It didn't surprise him greatly then, the day he returned from an out of town mission with the then-current director and found that Lucia had disappeared taking their child Melissa with her. The director had known what was happening and had arranged that he and Jack would be out of Cardiff when they left. The director refused to give Jack any information about where she went and shut Jack out of the computer systems that would let him find out for himself. It wasn't until another two directors on, that he was able to get access to the details of where Lucia went. By then though Lucia had died, but not before poisoning Jack's daughter's mind against him and when Jack tried to visit Melissa, now known as Alice, he wasn't even allowed in the front door.

Over the years Alice had thawed out slightly, especially after her ex-husband Joe walked out on her and Steven. Being abandoned herself gave her a bit more understanding of what Jack had gone through from the actions of her mother. Even though she did eventually allow Jack into their lives a little, it still wasn't much – hence why Jack was standing opposite the school; just getting those little glimpses into Steven's life made their separation easier to bear.

The sound of the school bell ringing and the kids starting to make their way back to their classrooms broke Jack out of his thoughts and he reluctantly started to leave. The last thing he wanted to do was attract attention as a lone man hanging around outside a school.

Jack sighed wearily. He thought back to the devastation and sense of betrayal he had felt when Lucia abandoned him. They had been relatively happy for most of their relationship, he had thought, and it wasn't until after she left him that Jack realised that once again "normal" wasn't going to happen for him.

Recently though, Jack's resolve had slipped somewhat. He had begun to think of Ianto in more than just casual terms, and he should have known better. As he walked away, his mind inevitably drifted back to Ianto and their conversation earlier.

Had he overreacted, by storming out of the Hub earlier? Had Ianto been right to call him out for threatening Suzie's life? He hadn't really intended to kill Suzie, not at first, he was only trying to scare her into stopping whatever it was she was doing. But once he got to Hedley Point and saw Gwen lying there on the ground, possibly dead, he saw red. Nothing would have stopped him then if Tosh hadn't of come up with a different, less violent, way of getting through to Suzie.

Jack knew that Ianto had read all of his files, both the official Torchwood records and the files the committee had given him, so he knew that Ianto knew of the terrible things he had done in the name of Torchwood. He knew that Ianto would not have doubted that Jack would have followed through with his threat, despite Ianto telling him to stop. To be honest, it surprised him that Ianto could even stand to be near him at all; given how many people he had killed in the past.

Jack thought of the look that Ianto had given him while he was comforting Gwen after Ianto had told her off for letting Suzie out of the Hub. He wasn't quite sure how to take that look. Memories of other times he had interacted closely with Gwen went through his head; the hugs and special looks they always had, only for each other. Had Ianto looked at him like that during those times as well?

As he continued walking, he cocked his head in confusion. Those memories that he had just had of Gwen – were they right? He remembered one of those times he was with Gwen, sharing a pizza with her at the Hub one Sunday afternoon; but thinking about it, he thought he had actually been with Ianto at the time. He was sure that it was one of the Sundays they had gone to Flat Holm Island together. And actually, as he thought about it, he really could picture being with Ianto at that time – and that memory seemed to be just as genuine as his memory of being with Gwen.

He shook his head. Something weird was going on.

* * *

As Tosh was still downstairs talking to Suzie and Jack's whereabouts was still unknown, it was left to Ianto and Owen to accompany Gwen to Eugene's house.

While Gwen spoke to Bronwen and Terry Jones, Eugene's mother and brother, Ianto and Owen searched through Eugene's room. Ianto pointed out Eugene's alien collection to Owen and they had a look through what was there. They retrieved a large number of artefacts from Eugene's room including his computer but, unfortunately for the deceased former owner of the items, most of the items were actually fakes.

When they returned from the Jones' household, Gwen and Owen started arguing over performing an autopsy on Eugene's body, with Owen eventually daring Gwen to do it herself as he had a stack of admin to do. She looked at Owen, trying to find the hidden catch, but just as Owen started guiding her through the process, Ianto interrupted them. He told them that a red Vauxhall had been stopped outside Caernarfon and the very drunk driver had admitted to knocking a man over near Cardiff who fitted Eugene's description.

Having it confirmed that Eugene's death really was just an RTA seemed to take the energy out of Gwen and she wandered through the Hub aimlessly. Ianto left them to it and went off to see if Jack had returned, only to find he hadn't come back yet.

Ianto glanced at his watch – UNIT were due to arrive soon to pick up Suzie so he went down to the cells to make sure she and Tosh were ready. He let them say their final good byes and then escorted Suzie back up to the surface to wait for the UNIT officers to arrive.

"Ianto?" Suzie began uncertainly. "That night… just before I nearly shot myself, I shot Jack right through the head. I killed him; stone dead, and then he just stood up and lived. Am I right? Did that happen? Ianto?"

Ianto nodded pensively.

"So he can survive a bullet through the head?"

Ianto nodded again.

"How?"

Ianto sighed. "I don't know. He's never explained it properly – he doesn't want the committee to know how it happened, so he won't tell me, because he knows I would be obligated to pass it on to them."

"But would you?" Suzie asked. "Would you tell them?"

Ianto gazed into the distance thoughtfully. _Right at this moment?_ "I don't know."

* * *

When he came back down after handing Suzie over, he gave Tosh a hug, gladdened to see that she didn't pull away from him, and then he left her to her own devices. He felt out of sorts and couldn't stop wondering where Jack had gone and how things had gone so bad, so quickly. He had no way of tracking him down and idly wondered how much trouble he would get Torchwood into if he hacked into a satellite to monitor the rooftops of Cardiff. Ianto knew Jack hadn't gone too far though – there hadn't been any signs of the tracker going off.

Sitting down at his desk, he leant forward and placing his elbow on the desk, rested his chin on his hand. He needed to clear his head. Ianto closed his eyes and just listened. He could hear the hum of the computers and the air ventilation system buzzing through the Hub. Outside of his office, he could hear the sounds of equipment being moved around, he could hear someone thumping on a keyboard very loudly, he could hear someone moving from desk to desk and he could hear someone rustling what sounded like plastic evidence bags. He sat there concentrating on the sounds of the Hub so long that he could even hear the ticking of the watch on his wrist. He could hear…

Ianto's eyes flew open in shock. Four. He had heard four people out there. Had Jack returned? Rushing out of his office, he stood on the balcony and looked over the Hub. He stopped short – there were only Tosh, Owen and Gwen working there.

"Did Jack come back in?" he called out to them.

They all looked up at Ianto. Gwen shook her head.

"No, we haven't heard from him."

Ianto looked at them, his brow furrowed. "Are you sure? I thought I heard four people out here."

"Really sure," Tosh replied. "There's no one here but us."

"Oh, OK then." Ianto replied, not sounding very certain. He turned around and went back into his office, leaving the others staring after him bewilderedly.

"He's losing it," Owen mouthed to the girls and winked.

Ianto sat back down at his desk and closed his eyes again, trying to hear what he had heard before, but no matter how hard he tried, he could only hear the three of them. Maybe it was Myfanwy flying around that he had heard. He didn't think that was the case though; it definitely sounded like there were four presences in the Hub.

He opened his eyes once more and his gaze fell on the broken pieces of the stopwatch still sitting on his desk from yesterday. He remembered that Jack had said something about a shop in the mall that sold antique clocks and he decided he would take the stopwatch in for him and get it fixed, by way of a peace offering. Surely, the significance of the stopwatch to the both of them would show Jack that he didn't want any trust issues between them.

Ianto told the others where he was going and made his way to the mall. He found a shop that was called 'A Stitch in Time' and when he looked in through the window, he knew he had come to the right place. The shop was literally covered in all sorts of clocks and timepieces of all styles and eras. He raised a hand to open the door, and just for a moment as he was distracted by someone walking through the mall, he could have sworn, that from out of the corner of his eye, he saw it written on the front door that this was actually a clothing store whose owner was Julia Martin.

Pushing the door open, Ianto literally had to stop himself from running straight back out again when he saw an elderly gentleman standing there watching him.

"Welcome," the man said. "I am Bilis Manger, proprietor of this store."

The man standing in front of him was wearing a cravat, exactly like the committee did. He had the same intense stare that they did. He just looked so out of place and time, exactly like the committee did.

"Ianto J-Jones," Ianto finally managed to get out, automatically reaching out a hand. He was barely able to stop himself shuddering as they shook hands; the man's skin even had that same cold fish feel to it that all the committee had.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir," Bilis replied. "How can I be of assistance?"

Ianto reached into his jacket pocket, surreptitiously scrubbing at his hand as he did so, and showed the broken stopwatch to Bilis.

"Ah! A lovely piece you have there!" Bilis exclaimed as he examined the broken stopwatch. "I am sure this must be of great sentimental value to yourself, or a _loved_ one, Mr Jones."

"Y-yeah," Ianto was barely able to string a sentence together, shocked at how committee-like the man in front of him was.

Bilis just smiled, very much aware of how much of a surprise his appearance would be to Ianto. "Well," he continued. "I can certainly repair this for you. In fact, I happened to receive the exact type of glass that would fit this very watch only yesterday."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "That was good timing then."

Bilis nodded and gave another of his creepy smiles. "Ah. Time. Indeed. I am blessed to have very good suppliers for the more uncommon items. They always come through for me. Anyway, Mr Jones, this will take me about an hour. Could I perhaps interest you in a cup of tea while you wait?" Bilis gestured to a tray on the counter that conveniently held an antique teapot and two sets of teacups and saucers.

Ianto looked over to where Bilis was pointing, and could barely resist another shudder. He didn't want to drink or consume anything that came from this man.

"No, that's fine. I have other things to do while I am here. Thank you anyway," Ianto replied.

Bilis nodded in acknowledgment. "Not a problem then. I will see you back here in one hour then."

Ianto nodded back and started heading for the door as fast as he could politely do so. He was just about to open the door when he turned back to Bilis. "Actually, could you engrave a message on the back for me as well?"

"Of course," Bilis replied. He held out a notepad and fountain pen to Ianto for him to write down exactly what he wanted. "Ah, a lovely sentiment," Bilis stated once he read what Ianto had written.

"Thanks. I'll be back in an hour then," Ianto said and finally escaped the shop.

* * *

By the time Ianto had picked up the stopwatch and returned to the Hub, it was late in the afternoon, and with it being a Friday, most of the team would most likely have left work earlier than normal. It was Torchwood's one nod towards working standard business hours. So when he walked into the Hub and found Tosh and Owen had already left, he wasn't really surprised. If he hadn't seen Gwen's bag still sitting on her desk, he would have assumed that she had left for the weekend too.

But more importantly than anything else, Jack's coat was back on the coat rack. Ianto let out a sigh, he was glad Jack had returned… now, hopefully, they could get things sorted out. Walking through the Hub, Ianto's heart skipped a beat when he heard Jack's voice as he was speaking to Gwen. Jack didn't sound angry any more, so hopefully things would turn out all right.

* * *

"To do what? He's dead!" Ianto heard Jack say.

"Yes, Jack, I know he's dead, but…" came Gwen's reply.

"I've got work to do."

Ianto heard footsteps as Jack started to walk away.

"OK."

Gwen got to her feet quickly to stop Jack walking away.

"OK. Listen to this. Eugene had an alien eye in his collection. He sold it online."

Jack turned back around to face her again, his renewed interest clear.

"What, like a sixth eye? A Dogon sixth eye?"

"Maybe." Gwen suddenly sounded less sure of herself.

"It's possible. There was a trade in them. Who's got it?"

"I don't know, but I've nearly tracked it down. What exactly is a sixth eye? I  
mean, exactly?"

"It's one in the back. Let's you see behind you, where you've been. Kind of  
puts things in perspective. It's useful, fun, slightly terrifying, that's why they were in demand."

"I can get it for you."

"Have you cleared this with Ianto?"

"Not exactly, I was hoping you would talk to him for me," Gwen replied.

"Oh no, you're not dragging me into this. I've already been in trouble with him once today!"

"But you're not the one he's put on warning. He'll listen to you. He doesn't listen to me at all."

"Gwen…"

"Jack, please. I've covered for you before, I'm just asking you to return the favour."

Ianto stood there listening to the conversation between Jack and Gwen. The stopwatch suddenly felt very heavy in his pocket, and he began to wonder whether the inscription he'd had put on the back was all a waste of time.

"OK, you've got the weekend." Jack came to a decision. "But keep your phone on and make sure you sort this with Ianto yourself, first thing, when you come in on Monday. I'm not taking any responsibility for this."

Jack turned around and started walking away… and came face to face with Ianto.


	29. Chapter 29

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 29**

Jack's eyes widened and his lips parted in shock as he realised Ianto had heard his conversation with Gwen and when he saw the furious look cross Ianto's face, he didn't hesitate. He turned his head around to the side and called out urgently. "GWEN!"

"What?" Gwen's impatient voice came from a distance. They heard her come thudding back towards them. "What is it Jack? I've got to get out of here before Ianto com… Oh!" Gwen's voice trailed off as she saw Ianto standing there next to Jack.

"Oh indeed," Ianto said shortly. "My office. Now!" He turned around and stormed off without waiting for a response.

Gwen turned to Jack and opened her mouth to speak but stopped when he shook his head. Now was not the time.

Ianto waited until the two of them had entered the office and sat down before loudly slamming the door behind them. It wasn't really necessary to shut the door, given that Tosh and Owen had already left for the day, but Gwen's wince at how much the office walls vibrated gave him some small amount of satisfaction anyway.

Steeling himself, he sat down and looked angrily at the two in front of him.

"Do you think Eugene committed suicide?" Gwen butted in quickly, before Ianto had a chance to speak.

Ianto screwed his face up in confusion and shook his head at her. "What?! What _are_ you talking about?"

Jack also looked at her questioningly.

"Eugene! Do you think he committed suicide?" she replied.

Ianto sighed. "I didn't bring you in here to talk about Eugene Jones, Gwen. And as both Tosh and I have told you, repeatedly, it was a road accident and there was no alien involved. I don't know how to be any clearer about it."

"See, I'm not so sure, because something seems really odd. I mean, I just... I just feel that there's something going on. It feels like there's someone there, someone following me, and until I sort out what happened with Eugene, it won't go away. There was this Dogon eye that he had, and it hasn't been found yet. I think I can get it for you. I just need some time."

Ianto bit down on his lower lip during Gwen's speech, not wanting to say something he would regret later. He was about to tell her to leave it alone when something she said made him think back to earlier in the day, when he had thought he had heard an extra person moving around in the Hub.

If Eugene really had been in possession of a Dogon sixth eye before his death, who knows what effect it could have had on him, both before and after his death. There had been a number of Dogon eyes in the possession of Torchwood London, and although the research on them had never been completed, it had been noted that at least three of the Dogons' thirteen eyes had special powers. They just didn't know what they were.

Ianto took a breath and looked grimly at Gwen. "So you thought you'd just run off and investigate, did you? Despite what Tosh and I have told you. Despite my warning to you earlier. And you thought you'd just leave Jack behind to cover for what you were doing?"

Gwen glanced at Jack guiltily. "Ianto, I…"

"Gwen, I've already had you in this office once today, and I placed you on warning then but still you think it would be a good idea to go off and do whatever you wanted. Did you ever even consider stopping to ask me first?"

Gwen shook her head and shrugged. "I didn't see the point. You've already made your feelings quite clear and I..."

"Don't you presume to know what I would say Gwen. I may well have had new information, or there could have been something else you didn't know about," Ianto interrupted.

"Is there something else?" Gwen asked eagerly, latching on to that one point.

Ianto looked away from her, he glanced at Jack briefly and then looked somewhere above him before sighing and looking back to Gwen. Knowing what little he did know about Dogon eyes, the possible opportunity of them having one for themselves was not one he wanted to pass up.

He shook his head, both at himself and Gwen. "That's not the point. The point is, that once again, you were going off to do your own thing, and that can't happen at a place like Torchwood. I need to be able to rely on my staff."

"I just need a bit of time," Gwen insisted.

Ianto nodded. "That's fine. Go. Just go and do whatever you want. Take all the time you want."

Gwen looked at Ianto in confusion. "Really?" she asked disbelievingly. She looked at Jack uncertainly.

Ianto lips pressed into a hard thin line watching her. "Yes, in fact you have all weekend and all of next week to do whatever you want."

Gwen paled incredulously when she realised what Ianto was actually saying. "You're suspending me?"

Ianto nodded once.

"You can't…"

"Gwen," Ianto interrupted, "I suggest you leave now, before I change my mind and make it an unpaid suspension."

Gwen gawped at him for a moment. "What about Jack?" she eventually got out.

"Jack is not your concern at this moment."

Gwen glared at Ianto and then stood up to leave. As she walked past Jack she placed a hand on Jack's back and whispered, "I'm sorry" and left the room without closing the door behind her.

Jack looked through the empty doorway for a moment before standing up and closing the door softly. He turned back to the office and saw Ianto had buried his face in his hands, leaning on the desk. Ianto looked like he was in pain. Jack went and knelt beside Ianto's chair. He placed a hand gently on Ianto's shoulder.

"Ianto? Are you OK?" Ianto lifted his head and Jack was saddened to see the hurt in Ianto's eyes.

When Ianto saw Gwen place her hand on Jack as she walked past, Ianto had had a flashback to when they had saved Carys Fletcher from the alien sex gas. Tosh had told him how she had looked back at Jack and Gwen kneeling on the floor and Gwen had leant forward and kissed Jack. Tosh had taken great delight in telling him of the dazed look Jack had had in his eyes as he rubbed his fingertips over his lips where Gwen had kissed him.

Ianto hadn't thought anything of it at the time – he and Jack were not together then, so it wasn't any of his business what, or who, Jack did. But the touch just then gave him visions of all the other little touches and glances between Jack and Gwen, when Jack had spent time with her rather than taking the time to be with him. And after standing there, listening to them plotting for Gwen to disobey Ianto once again, Jack being willing to provide an alibi for her, deliberately going against him in favour of Gwen…

Ianto shrugged Jack off and indicated to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. Jack looked at him closely and then went and sat down again. Ianto stared at him, but didn't say anything.

Jack eventually broke the silence. "So, you're just letting her go anyway?"

"Yep. You know as well as I do that she's not going to leave it alone. Better she gets it out of her system, away from Torchwood. She'll be a liability in the field if she is continually distracted by this supposed case."

Jack nodded in agreement. "I suppose."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "So exactly what was it that has she covered you for?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply then stopped and thought about it. He couldn't remember, which was strange because the moment she had mentioned it, Jack had an overwhelming thought that he really did owe her one.

"I don't know," he said, genuinely confused. "It's true!" he said in response to Ianto's quiet scoff. "The moment she reminded me of it, I knew, without a doubt that she had covered for me for something and I knew that I had no choice but to return the favour. But honestly Ianto, I really don't remember now what it was."

Jack thought back to earlier, when he was having conflicting memories about whether he had been with Gwen or Ianto, and now he couldn't remember the truth about what Gwen had apparently done for him.

Ianto looked at him disbelievingly but, once again, chose not to say anything. Jack was beginning to feel unnerved by Ianto's reluctance to speak to him. They sat there for several minutes just looking at each other. They both thought back to their last conversation where Ianto had told him that he needed to be able to trust everyone in his team. Jack had stormed out, indignant that Ianto seemed to think he couldn't trust Jack. Jack knew agreeing to let Gwen go without talking to Ianto was not going to further his cause, but his concerns about his conflicting memories seemed to be of a higher priority than trying to justify his actions.

"Ianto, I think something strange is going on," he began. Jack went on to tell him of his two sets of memories, hoping that Ianto would say something similar. But Ianto continued to sit there, not saying a word. His ongoing silence was beginning to worry Jack – did Ianto just not believe him, or was something else going on in his mind. Was Ianto too angry with him to believe what he was saying?

Ianto actually wasn't sure what to believe. At first he wondered if Jack was trying to cover himself by saying he didn't remember what Gwen had done for him, and then when Jack started talking about his memories being changed, or made different to what he thought, Ianto didn't know what to think.

He thought about earlier in the day, when he thought he had heard a fourth person in the Hub.

"Do you remember the night we stopped Suzie going after Sarah Pallister?" he asked. "And Eugene turned up wanting to tell Gwen about something about…"

"Eugene wasn't there that night," Jack interrupted eagerly. "It was just you, me and Suzie."

Ianto shook his head, "No, he _was_ th…" and just like that it clicked. Ianto could suddenly see that it had just been the three of them there, where he previously remembered Eugene being there with them. And at the exact same time, Jack became unsure of his own memory – had Eugene been there after all?

"Oh. Maybe he was there," he began to say, stopping when he saw Ianto shake his head.

"So what exactly is happening here then?" Ianto asked.

Neither of them had an answer to that.

After another uncomfortable silence, Ianto took a deep breath and began the part of the conversation he had been trying to avoid, knowing it was just going to cause more conflict between them. He brushed his hand over his pocket, feeling the cool hardness of the stopwatch.

"I spoke to you earlier about needing to be able to trust my team members."

Jack nodded. He wasn't looking forward to this any more than Ianto was.

"And yet I find you scheming with Gwen."

Jack felt the indignation and rage rushing through him. "And I told you before that you can trust me. And besides, I told you, I thought I genuinely owed her a favour at the time!" Jack took a breath, surprised by the sudden anger he felt. He stood up, towering over Ianto. "If you don't trust me, then we don't have much of a future!"

Ianto paled. What was Jack saying?

Jack saw the look of shock on Ianto's face, and quite frankly, he shared that shock. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly so angry, but if Ianto was still questioning his trustworthiness, if he didn't believe in him…

"I think you should stay at your own place tonight," Jack continued. "I will stay here." Jack looked out the office window. "I'm going out to get some dinner, I'll see you tomorrow." Jack left, taking great care to shut, not slam, the door behind him.

Ianto was stunned. "J-Jack?" he called out hesitantly, but the only answer he got was the sound of Jack's footsteps getting further and further away.

* * *

Ianto sat at his desk, not moving, for another half hour. No matter how much he tried, simply couldn't process how things had gone so bad, so quickly. Eventually, he pulled the stopwatch out of his pocket. He pressed the button on the top and watched the hands move around before turning it over and re-reading the inscription on the back.

He turned his head towards the bunker. Most of the clothes he had there needed to be washed anyway. He climbed down the ladder and gathered his stuff. He didn't really want but, but he took his toiletries and other items too. Who knew when, or if, he would be coming back? Ianto looked around the bunker sadly, not wanting to leave. He straightened the bed covers and tidied up some things that had been left lying around. A glance at his watch showed him that Jack would most likely be returning soon, so with one last glance, he climbed back up the ladder and went home.

* * *

After his meal, Jack dawdled for as long as he could before returning. He hoped Ianto had left; he couldn't face him just then. When he got back, the lights had all been turned off and the only sounds came from the computers. Ianto had obviously left.

Jack couldn't help but smile when he got to his bunker and saw that Ianto had tidied up before he left. Just couldn't help himself, Jack thought affectionately, before he remembered why Ianto was not there. The smile left his face abruptly.

He started to go through to the bunker's tiny bathroom to get ready for bed when he noticed something was sitting on the middle of his pillow. It was the stopwatch. He was surprised; Ianto must have had it fixed while Jack was away from the Hub earlier. He was amazed it had been done so quickly. He picked it up and rubbed his thumb over the smooth surface of the watch face. As he did so, he realised the back of the stopwatch felt different. Turning it over, he saw the inscription on the back and had to sit down on the bed abruptly.

For Ianto to have had that message placed there, when things had been so uncertain between them… Jack suddenly felt ill.

"Oh, Ianto!" he whispered quietly to the empty room. He sprung up from the bed and practically ran up the ladder. He grabbed his coat, ran to the garage and drove to Ianto's as fast as he could.

When he got to Ianto's door, he paused before inserting the key. While this wasn't the first time he had used the key since Ianto had given it to him, it was the first time he had used it uninvited. Would he even be welcome tonight, and this late? He felt the weight of the stopwatch in his coat pocket and knew he had to go in. He took the stopwatch out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

The lights were off, so Jack assumed Ianto had gone to bed. He started to take his coat off and hang it up when he heard a terrified scream from the lounge room. Dropping the coat where he stood, Jack rushed in but stopped when he saw Ianto was asleep on the couch. He was disappointed to see that Ianto was caught in a nightmare; he had hoped that last night's dreamless sleep would continue for him.

Jack walked over to the couch, and placed a hand on Ianto's forehead. The result was instantaneous; Ianto's murmurings quietened down and he moved his head closer to Jack. That was one thing Jack had always liked about Ianto, whether asleep or awake, he was always highly responsive to Jack's touch. Jack sat on the floor in front of the couch and waited for the nightmare to completely pass.

When Ianto had calmed down, Jack stretched Ianto's legs out along the couch; his legs had become entangled in the duvet as he had thrashed through his nightmare and Jack knew he would wake up with sore legs if he stayed in that position.

Jack moved back up to the other end of the couch and sat down again. He rested his forehead against Ianto's and waited for him to wake up. Jack must have dozed off because the next thing he knew was that Ianto's hand was resting gently on the back of his head and a kiss was placed on his forehead.

"Jack?" Ianto queried quietly.

Jack looked up at him and handed him the stopwatch. "I'm an idiot," he declared, as equally quiet.

The corner of Ianto's mouth twitched upwards slightly, but thankfully he didn't agree with him.

"Ianto…" Jack began, but Ianto quietened him with a finger on his mouth.

"Shh! We can talk about it in the morning," Ianto said. "You're here now, and that's all I'm worried about."

"Are you sure?" Jack looked concerned.

Ianto simply nodded. "It's late, let's go to bed."

Jack stood up, and held out a hand to Ianto. Ianto pulled himself up, with Jack's assistance but stumbled slightly when he stood up, still a bit sleepy.

"Whoa, careful," Jack chided gently, wrapping his arms around Ianto. Ianto smiled sheepishly and wrapped his arms around Jack in return. They stood there, holding each other for a few minutes, until they were interrupted by Ianto yawning. Jack laughed softly.

"Come on," he said and led Ianto to the bedroom.

As they settled into bed, they wrapped their arms around each other again and snuggled as close as they could comfortably get.

The last things that went through Jack's mind as he fell asleep, were the wording of the inscription and the knowledge that regardless of whatever was happening, he couldn't let Ianto down.

"_I trust you Jack. With my life, and with my heart. Ianto._"


	30. Chapter 30

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 30**

Ianto awoke to what felt like an attack from a giant octopus. He felt an enormous weight lying on top of him, limbs twisting and wrapping around his body, and suckers moving against his neck and latching on firmly. But it wasn't until he felt something moving inside the bottom of his shirt, up along his side and then slide back down into the front of his pyjama bottoms, that he gave up any pretence of being asleep and opened his eyes.

Jack was lying on top of him, his face burrowed into Ianto's neck. Jack's legs were entwined with Ianto's and one of his hands was now resting against Ianto's hip, his fingertips pushed slightly inside the waistband.

"About time you woke up," Jack grinned cheekily.

He rested himself on the elbow of his other arm to take some of his weight off of Ianto, then lifted the hand resting on Ianto's hip up and brushed his hair back from his forehead, enjoying the soft feel of Ianto's hair running through his fingers. Ianto shut his eyes again without a word, just soaking up the sensations as Jack lowered his mouth and resumed working away at Ianto's neck. Jack slid his tongue over the pulse point at the base of Ianto's neck, drawing a soft, satisfied moan from him.

Ianto opened his eyes again as Jack raised his head to look into Ianto's eyes, almost as if he was trying to gauge Ianto's reaction. Ianto looked steadily back up at him then reached up and pulled Jack's head down to his. Pressing their mouths against each other's, Jack parted his lips to allow Ianto's tongue entrance. Their breathing became deeper as their tongues explored and Jack rubbed his groin against Ianto's, Ianto's grip on him tightening in response.

They both groaned in frustration as, with a shrill buzzing sound, Ianto's PDA went off, signalling an alert that had been redirected from the Hub's mainframe. Jack rested his forehead against Ianto's for a moment as they tried to regain their breath, before rolling off Ianto to allow him to check the alert.

"Weevil. Loose in a car park." Ianto said resignedly.

Jack sighed, and after giving Ianto a quick kiss on his forehead, got up and began to get dressed.

"Want me to come with you?" Ianto asked, watching him move around the room, nearly sighing in disappointment as Jack's body was covered up by his clothes. "Save calling Owen in?"

"No, I'll be alright on my own. I always am." Jack replied.

Ianto started to get dressed himself. "I know you will, but it's probably about time I got some more field experience anyway. It's been a while since…" Ianto's voice trailed off as his mind went back to the cannibals. He stood up as Jack walked over to him.

Jack pulled him close and whispered seductively in his ear. "So you want to come weevil hunting with me?"

Ianto looked at him with amusement. Only Jack could turn something as potentially dangerous as tracking down a Weevil into something smutty sounding.

"If I come with you, it just means we can take up where we left off, just that little bit sooner," Ianto replied, matching Jack's tone and gesturing vaguely towards the bed behind them.

Jack grinned. "Well, when you put it like that…" Jack grabbed Ianto's hand and pulled him out the door.

* * *

When Owen and Tosh arrived at Hub on Monday morning, both of them were wary of what mood they would find at the Hub. When they had left on Friday, Jack was still missing, Gwen was still angry with Ianto and Ianto was still out running his errands after having secluded himself in his office for most of the day. They were also surprised that neither of them had been called in over the weekend on any rift alerts; as far as they could remember, that had never happened in the entire time they had been working for Torchwood.

They stood just inside the cogwheel door and looked around. No one could be seen. They looked questioningly at each other until Owen shrugged and started walking over to his desk, Tosh following along behind him. They both turned as they heard voices and laughter coming from the passageway down to the lower levels. To their surprise, Ianto and Jack walked out of the passageway a few minutes later, walking very closely together and joking and laughing with each other. There was no sign of Gwen anywhere.

Ianto caught Owen and Tosh watching them and favoured them with a smile before reverting to his usual work demeanour.

"Can one of you go and grab some breakfast for us all? We will be having a meeting in the boardroom in about twenty minutes," he instructed. "Oh, and there's just the four of us today."

Owen and Tosh looked at each other. They were totally confused. Gwen hadn't asked for any leave that they knew of and she wasn't rostered to have any days off. Although, Owen thought, maybe that explained why she hadn't come over on the weekend. They had planned to get together while Rhys was working some weekend shifts. He barely looked up as Tosh left to go and get their food and drinks, lost in his thoughts of Gwen.

* * *

During the meeting, Ianto explained to them why Gwen was not there now and wouldn't be for the rest of the week. He then went on to tell them of all the new Weevils down in the cells that they had brought in over the weekend.

It had ended up being a very busy weekend for Ianto and Jack with Weevil alerts. There were three other callouts, after that first Weevil, but Ianto and Jack had managed to deal with them all on their own, without disturbing the other two. With Gwen out of the picture for the week, the team could potentially be very busy while they were one man down and Ianto had decided that Owen and Tosh should get as much rest as they could, while they could.

Plus, they had had a lot of fun "entertaining" each other after each hunt, Ianto thought to himself with a smile.

Saying they might be busy turned out to be a very prophetic statement, as they had barely finished cleaning up from breakfast when the first alert of the day came in. Jack, Tosh and Owen took off in the SUV while Ianto co-ordinated them from the Hub. A pair of Weevils had been sighted near a primary school, and while most of the students thought their appearance was hilarious, most of the parents had panicked, with some calling the police and others calling the media.

A lot of photos and video footage was taken on mobile phones, so as well as co-ordinating the team; Ianto was flat-strapped removing the footage leaked onto the Internet. He briefly considered taking down a number of social media sites altogether, at one stage when the number of clips going up was far exceeding the rate at which he could take them down, but reluctantly decided against it. When the others returned to the Hub, after having finally retconned all of the witnesses, Tosh was able to give him a hand and together they were able to remove and delete all traces of the online footage.

"This is getting ridiculous," Owen groaned hours later, when yet another alert came in. This would be the fourth alert for the day, and they were all very tired.

Ianto agreed. "I know, I think we've had more alerts today than we've had in a single day the whole time I've been here." He looked over at Tosh; she looked so exhausted that it was a wonder she was still standing.

"Can you two handle this one on your own?" Ianto asked Jack and Owen. Owen opened his mouth to grumble again, but after a pointed glare from Ianto, he took one look at Tosh and closed his mouth again. He shrugged in resignation.

"Come on then," Jack sighed. "Let's get this over and done with."

That night, Ianto and Jack had barely enough energy to climb down the ladder and collapse in an exhausted pile on Jack's bed, let alone do anything else. Ianto didn't even care that he had no spare clothes at the Hub; he was just too tired to bother. He was barely even aware of getting undressed and collapsing on the bed next to Jack. Jack covered them with his blankets, wrapped an arm around Ianto and then fell asleep himself.

* * *

The whole week carried on in a similar fashion with alert after alert coming through, keeping the entire team near the edge of exhaustion. Towards the end of the week, Ianto had started accompanying them on missions, to try and take some of the pressure off of the other three. He didn't get in thick of the action, given that he was still mostly untrained for field work, but he could at least help with crowd control and loading up the SUV with any captured Weevils or alien artefacts they had found.

It had been working out relatively well, having Ianto there, until one mission when their luck ran out. Ianto and Jack were with the SUV in an alleyway loading an unconscious Weevil in the back while Owen and Tosh were out of sight, trying to track down a second, unknown alien. The alien they were chasing doubled back on them unexpectedly. The creature stopped for a moment to observe the two of them before suddenly charging at Tosh, seeing that she was the smaller of the two.

The force of the collision threw Tosh against the brick wall of the nearest building, causing her to scream out in pain. The creature went for Owen next and it was about to knock him flying when a large, double-bang sounded. Owen and Tosh looked up to see the creature collapse to the ground. Behind it, Ianto and Jack could be seen lowering their guns.

Owen rushed over to Tosh to assess any injuries, scans revealing she had fractured her arm along with suffering a number of scratches and bruises. Jack ran back to the SUV to drive it closer to where they were and handed out the medical kit to Owen. Owen wrapped her arm in a temporary cast and loaded her up with painkillers before helping her up.

After settling Tosh into the SUV, the others bundled the creature in the back with the unconscious Weevil and returned to the Hub. Ianto offered for them to drop Tosh off at her flat first, but she told him she would prefer to come back with them instead.

When they all got back to the Hub, and had unloaded the Weevil and the dead creature, Owen insisted that Tosh rest for a while before starting to work again. Tosh tried to argue with him, but as Ianto and Jack came over and backed him up, she reluctantly agreed to rest on the sofa. She made Ianto promise to wake her up in a couple of hours so she could continue on with her work.

Luckily they had no more alerts that day, so they all spent time catching up on overdue reports and other paperwork or, in Owen's case, autopsying the unknown alien. The Hub was quiet and subdued, given the exhaustion levels of them all. Even Jack, with his regenerative capabilities was feeling the strain.

"Not a good week to be short staffed," Owen yelled from the Autopsy Room. Ianto, Jack and Tosh all silently agreed with him.

* * *

In the afternoon, Ianto received a phone call from Gwen. She had tracked down what had happened to the Dogon sixth eye. Apparently, Eugene had tried to sell it online to fund an overseas trip for one of his friends at work. Things had not gone according to plan, and he had somehow ended up swallowing the artefact. Gwen was disappointed because if she had actually gone through with autopsying him when his body was at the Hub, she would have found it earlier.

She told Ianto she was waiting at the mortuary where Eugene had been cremated so that one of the morticians could give the Eye to her after he had removed it from Eugene's body. Luckily for Gwen, they had accepted her Torchwood identification card as authority to retrieve it, without involving the grieving family.

Ianto went with Jack and Owen out to the Jones' household to collect her, figuring it was about time she returned to the Hub. Tosh decided to stay at the Hub, as she was still needing to keep her arm as still as possible.

The SUV pulled up just as Gwen was walking up to the Jones' household.

"Where's Tosh?" she asked in surprise when she saw only the three men had come.

"She had to stay at the Hub. She has a fractured arm and a few other bruises and scratches," Ianto replied.

"What happened?" she asked.

"What happened was that we were short staffed, Gwen," Owen snarled back. "It's been a bloody busy week. I hope this damned mission of yours was worth it! If you were at work with us then maybe she wouldn't have been injured."

Gwen looked away; suddenly unable to face the men.

"Did you get it?" Jack stepped in.

"Yeah, I got it," Gwen replied, glad of the distraction. She showed Jack the paper bag the mortician had given her and Jack took the eye out and looked at it admiringly.

Ianto looked at them both. "Come on. We've got to go."

"Yeah, Tosh's waiting for us," Jack agreed.

With one last look back at the Jones' household, Gwen reluctantly followed the others to the SUV. She didn't know why but she suddenly felt the need to cross the road and speak to the family one last time before she left. Ianto impatiently beeping the horn at her caused her to pause for a second. As she went to move again, a car came speeding down the road, narrowly missing her. She gasped loudly – if she hadn't paused, the car would have hit her.

Jack passed the Eye over to Ianto and got back out of the SUV to see if Gwen was OK. She was a bit shaken, but otherwise she was fine. Jack walked her to the door of the SUV and held the door open as she climbed in the back seat next to Owen. When Jack got back in the front with Ianto, he was concerned to see that Ianto had gone very pale. He put a hand on Ianto's shoulder. Ianto looked at him.

"He was here. I saw him." Ianto held the Eye, clutched tightly in his hand, up to Jack. "As soon as I touched this, I saw him."

"Who?" Jack asked bewilderedly.

"Eugene," Ianto whispered quietly so that Gwen wouldn't hear. "He was there, looking at Gwen. And then after that car missed her and you got out to see how she was, a bright light surrounded him and he started rising up into the air. He just kept rising until he disappeared. And it felt like the other day, you know, when I thought I had heard someone extra in the Hub."

"Maybe it was him at the Hub then?" Jack suggested.

Ianto glanced quickly to the back of the SUV. "Do you think he followed her?"

Jack shrugged. "He swallowed the eye, who knows what effect that would have had on him."

Ianto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. They were questions they would never be able to answer.

Jack patted his knee. "Come on, let's get going."

Ianto nodded and started up the SUV.

In the back seat, Gwen turned to Owen and put her hand on his thigh. "I'm sorry I didn't come over on the weekend like we had agreed, I just needed to…" She stopped in shock as Owen brushed her hand off angrily.

"You don't get it, do you?" Owen growled back at her. "It's not all about you, it's not all about what you need. Tosh could have been seriously hurt today because you were off god knows where fulfilling your goddamn needs. Did you ever stop to think of that?"

Gwen sat there, open-mouthed in shock; Owen had never spoken to her like that before. She couldn't say too much in the SUV though, she didn't want Jack or Ianto to think she was having any problems. She turned away from Owen and faced out the window, not wanting him to see the tears that had suddenly welled up in her eyes.

When they got back to the Hub, she flew over to Tosh and engulfed her in a hug. "I'm so sorry Tosh," she gushed. "I never meant for this to happen!"

Tosh nodded, trying not to let Gwen see the pain she was in from her arm being bumped by the force of Gwen's hug. She smiled at Owen over Gwen's shoulder as he stood in the background shaking his head in exasperation and then shook her head slightly at him when it looked like he was going to say something to Gwen.

Ianto resolved the issue for them anyway by announcing that they would all have an early day. Gwen would be on call over the weekend, and the rest of them would have a well-earned break.

"But Rhys is expecting me home…" Gwen began. She broke off when Ianto tossed a PDA at her.

"You can monitor the alerts from home," he stated.

Gwen looked at them all looking at her, and she suddenly realised that arguing further would not achieve anything and she nodded in agreement.

Ianto seemed to let out a deep breath. "Come on then everyone, let's go to the pub. First round's on me."

Owen smiled for the first time that day and they all filed out of the Hub, more than ready for a drink. Or two.


	31. Chapter 31

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 31**

Gwen stood in between the two silent men, feeling confused and wondering why things had changed so much for her.

It had been a week now since she had solved the case that Ianto had claimed wasn't a case, and had located the Dogon sixth eye which now resided in the Torchwood Hub where it could be studied and benefit the institute. During that week, she had found that both Jack and Owen had grown increasingly distant from her. Ianto had always been aloof from her, believing himself more important than her, and Tosh had never really started talking to her again anyway, after having been found reading everyone's minds with that pendant Mary had given her. Gwen was beginning to feel on the outer amongst the team, and she couldn't understand why.

The entire time she had been with Torchwood, both Jack and Owen, to a lesser extent, had gone out of their way to make her feel both welcome and wanted. Jack had flirted with her since day one – granted, he flirted with absolutely everyone – but his flirting with her had always seemed so much more genuine, so much more real, than his flirting with anyone else. Even his flirting with Ianto when he first started hadn't ever seemed as intense as his flirting with her.

And that was another thing she didn't understand. Jack and Ianto. She didn't understand what Jack saw in him and she couldn't see how a relationship between those two could possibly work. Jack was so outgoing and gregarious; and while he seemed to have many secrets, he was still approachable and nearly everyone, except for those in authority, seemed to like him. But Ianto seemed to her to be the complete opposite. He was quiet, didn't join in with a lot of the team conversations and was always so formal and business-like. After all, he was the only one in Torchwood who wore a suit to work – what was with that?

Since Ianto had been around, Jack had scaled down his public flirting with her considerably, and she missed that special thrill she felt every time he flirted with her. She supposed that since Jack was now sleeping with the boss, he would probably think that he had to play it safe to not get in trouble with Ianto. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

She looked over at Owen who was standing on her left wearing a large backpack. He was being just as silent and impenetrable as Jack.

She and Owen had had a love-hate relationship from the start. Whether they were arguing with each other or were having the wildest sex imaginable, every interaction they had with each other had been emotion-charged and full of drama. But this week, as everything seemed to change for her, their interactions were mostly low key and distanced from each other. She hadn't been to Owen's house all week now and, since his outburst in the back seat of the SUV, he had barely even spoken to her. Not even to argue.

The sound of an aircraft descending from the clouds drew her attention back to the present, and she turned back to the front and joined Jack and Owen in watching the plane land.

Once the 'Sky Gypsy' had landed, the introductions made and Jack had found out where the three passengers had come from, he told Gwen to call for a taxi to take them back to the Hub. Jack knew the three people from the fifties would have a fair amount of culture shock, and he didn't want to overload them with all the technology in the SUV. A ride in a far less technical taxi would be much easier on them and he sent Gwen with them as he thought they would be more comfortable with her than with Owen.

While they were waiting for the taxi to arrive, Jack arranged for the plane to be moved to an empty hangar. As the taxi left, Owen scanned all their luggage, which had been packed into the SUV, to make sure it did all originate from the fifties and there wasn't anything alien hidden inside, then he and Jack left in the SUV. Jack called through to Tosh on the way back to give her all the details he had on the three people and the plane. It would be up to him now to decide what to do with them.

* * *

John Ellis. Emma Louise Cowell. Diane Holmes. They were the names of the three people who now stood in the centre of the Hub, lost and confused, none of them quite yet believing that they had travelled fifty years in half an hour.

After Owen had given them all a quick medical to make sure they were all right after their time jump, they were brought into the boardroom. Jack tried to explain about transcendental portals and how the three of them had arrived in Cardiff at the time they had, but none of it made any sense to the three travellers. Their minds were still reeling from what they had seen so far, and nothing that Jack was saying was making any sense. Doors in time and space were so far out of their experiences that they simply couldn't comprehend any of it.

The looks of despair on the three travellers faces when they were told there was no way back made all four of the Torchwood agents feel their pain.

Jack wished desperately that Ianto was there to tell him what to do, but he had been called away the day before by the committee for something relating to the twelve month anniversary of the Canary Wharf battle and neither of them knew when he would be back. Jack didn't even know where he was, although he supposed he couldn't be too far away, not without setting off the tracker.

Using the information that Tosh had been able to dig up so far, Jack, Gwen and Owen paired off with John, Emma and Diane to let them know what had happened with the family members they had left behind or to ask them more questions to help fill in the gaps. Jack then took John over to Tosh and had her look up details of his son, Alan. John was the only one of the three who had left children behind.

Tosh eventually found accommodation for the three of them and she remained at the Hub with Owen while Jack and Gwen took them to the motel.

As Jack stood there in the motel room, watching John unpack his belongings, it struck him how similar the two of them were. If they had been from the same point in time, they might have been quite good friends. Gwen didn't have quite the same connection with Emma but as they talked together, while Diane was elsewhere, she began to get a picture of how truly young and alone Emma was. Emma was not used to living independently and Gwen wondered how she would get along with the more liberated Diane.

When he got back to the Hub, Jack tried to call Ianto but was unable to get through. After listening to Ianto's voice mail message, he decided not to leave a message. He went down into his bunker and lay on the bed instead. He stayed there all night, unable to sleep, trying to think things through. In the morning, Jack found he was actually tired from not having slept at all. Since he and Ianto had started spending every night together, Jack had found he had been sleeping more and more consistently, even though he didn't need to sleep. That habit had clearly been having an affect; he hadn't felt this tired in quite a while.

* * *

Somewhere in Cardiff, Ianto was feeling in quite a similar state. While he had fallen asleep briefly at some stage during the night, his sleep had been disturbed by many nightmares and he kept waking up and reaching out for Jack, only to find himself on his own. He had even turned his phone on at one stage to call Jack, despite the committee warning him to leave it switched off at all times, but he couldn't get any reception.

He had no idea where he was, but, like Jack, he reasoned that he couldn't be too far away from the Hub, given there hadn't been any signs of the tracker being activated.

He had been summoned by the committee to meet someone up on the Plass the day before, to be taken to a meeting to discuss the tribute that had been performed for the anniversary of the battle of Canary Wharf, an event that Ianto had failed to attend a couple of months ago. Ianto wasn't sure how he could have attended, given that he had been told quite firmly that Jack was not welcome to attend and had to stay in Cardiff.

When he was taken to this unknown location, he had been placed in the back of a van with the windows covered up so he couldn't see where they went. He quickly found out that the reason he was there had absolutely nothing to do with Canary Wharf.

As soon as he arrived, he had been escorted to his room and locked in. The only time the door had opened again was when someone had brought him his evening meal. At least it was a comfortable room, complete with a luxurious ensuite, and the food supplied wasn't that bad either.

The next morning found him sitting at a large table, across from the two committee members that he had come to particularly loathe ever since his transfer to Cardiff had been on the cards. The two of them were looking at Ianto like he was the most distasteful thing they had ever seen. It was taking all of Ianto's self-control not to glare back at them.

"You were supposed to be taking strict control of that abomination," one of them declared.

Ianto had taken to calling them Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee to himself; the one who had spoken was Tweedle-dum. He hoped desperately they couldn't read minds.

"I have been watching him," Ianto replied carefully. Could they be referring to Lisa, he wondered. Jack had still not told him anything about the committee's involvement, so as far as Ianto knew, the committee shouldn't know anything about it. "Has he done something wrong?"

"Oh really? Watching him?" Dum sneered. "I bet you were doing a lot of 'watching' him when you were fucking him!"

Ianto's blood ran cold. How could they possibly know that?

Dee saw his reaction and laughed nastily. "Oh yes, we know all about you and that freak. Quite frankly, I would have thought you would have better taste. I hope you sterilise yourself thoroughly afterwards, god knows where that promiscuous freak has been!"

Ianto gripped the edge of the table, so tightly that his knuckles turned white, to prevent himself from launching himself at them. He doubted he would get out of there in one piece if he did anything stupid like that.

Dum stood up and walked over to Ianto. "You're not the first one to fall for his wiles. There's a long list of Torchwood directors and agents the freak has been known to have sex with. And you certainly won't be the last." He threw a file on the table in front of Ianto. "Here, have something we must have _accidentally_ forgotten to include in the original file we gave you."

Ianto started to reach out for the file, but hesitated when he remembered what had happened the last time he had reached out for a file while near these two. Dum laughed at him and deliberately stepped back from the table and walked back to his seat. Ianto picked up the file and looked at the label: "MORETTI, Lucia; CARTER, Alice; CARTER, Steven."

He started reading through the file and looked up at the committee members in shock when he realised what – or _whom_ – the file was about.

"Yes, that's right. Your beloved pet freak has a daughter nearly twice your age," said Dum.

"Bet he never told you that! Or about how we had to sneak Lucia out of Torchwood and into a new life because she was so scared of what having that freak in their daughter's life could do!" Dee sneered.

Ianto sighed silently to himself. They were right; Jack hadn't told him about having a daughter or grandson. He knew that Jack couldn't possibly tell him everything about himself – he had lived too long for that – but still, Ianto thought, having a living daughter and grandson would surely count amongst the things that Jack would have shared with his partner or lover or whatever it was they were to each other. He found he was quite disappointed that Jack hadn't felt able to confide in him.

"Guess you're not that special to him after all!" Dum asked, having realised that Ianto really hadn't known about Alice and Steven.

The committee members stood up. They had given Ianto the information their leader had wanted passed on; it was now time to let Ianto stew over it for a while.

"We'll be back tomorrow morning. You should return to your room," instructed Dum.

"What am I supposed to do shut up in there all day?"

"To be honest, neither of us cares." Dee stated. He pointed at the file and smirked. "You can take that with you and read it again." A night alone, with only that file for entertainment, should be enough to make him doubt his place with the freak, they had decided earlier.

Ianto picked up the file reluctantly. He didn't really want to examine the contents of it too carefully but, as he was escorted back to his room, he figured he didn't exactly have a choice.

* * *

Jack's lack of sleep, and resulting tiredness, manifested itself in a slight lack of judgement when he instructed Toshiko to create new identities for the three travellers. He had changed his own name, changed his entire life, so many times in the past, that it didn't even occur to him how off-putting it would be for the three travellers. They had lost everything else in their lives, and losing their names as well was just too much for them, for John Ellis especially.

John was now in his forties, and had lived a life time: he had been married, he had a son, he had his own business and it was his name – his son's name – that was above his shop. Not the name of some non-existent person called David Ward. Diane seemed to silently agree; it was only Emma who didn't seem put out by the possibility of having a new name. Maybe that was only the novelty of having the same name as a famous film star.

After calming John down, and agreeing to let them keep their names, Jack sent them out with Gwen to do some grocery shopping. Tosh gave them recommendations on how to divide their money up and sent them on their way.

The shopping trip passed without too many dramas, and while she had been initially put out that she had been sent to do babysitting for grocery shopping, Gwen was soon taken in by the reactions of the three travellers to everything they saw. Seeing things through their eyes, and seeing the delight in what she would consider the simple things, like a bunch of bananas or an entire aisle of confectionery, started Gwen thinking that just maybe some of the priorities in her life at the moment needed slight readjusting. She would have to do some serious thinking.

On their way back to the motel, John asked if he could be dropped off at the Millennium Stadium. Gwen didn't think anything of it and was happy to oblige. She was a bit annoyed when they got back to the motel and realised it meant they would have put his shopping away for him, but she unloaded the car anyway and left the two ladies to themselves.

* * *

Ianto had lost track of whether it was day or night. When he was escorted back to his room, he was given trays with his next three meals and left alone. The room had no windows, no clocks and without being able to use his phone, he had no way of telling what the time was or even what day it was. He found that he kept starting to drift off.

He read through the file over and over, and as he sat there drinking endless cups of coffee, he found the coffee was actually having the opposite effect to what he intended and his eyes kept closing, no matter how hard he tried to keep them open. He eventually lost the fight and his arm fell down to hang loosely by his side, the photos of Lucia and the Carters falling from his hand to the floor.

Despite his tiredness, he kept on being woken by nightmares. He struggled each time to keep his eyes open afterwards and to not fall asleep again, but he just couldn't do it. He seemed to fall into an endless cycle of falling asleep and being woken up by a nightmare.

Sometimes he imagined he saw the old man who fixed the stopwatch standing over him holding onto the file.

The old man stood there and suddenly everything around them went dark and they were both transported to the highway he had dreamt Suzie and Gwen had been driving along a few weeks ago. The old man suddenly started growing bigger and bigger and transformed into some unspeakable monster and reached for Ianto.

Ianto sat up with a gasp and looked around him. Had he only been dreaming the old man was in the room with him? He saw the file sitting on the bedside table – it was back in order and contained all the photos he had dropped on the floor earlier. Ianto shook his head. He couldn't remember tidying it up himself, so who had picked it up?

Ianto reached over and grabbed something to eat but almost immediately found himself falling asleep again. It didn't take long for the nightmares to start again.

_He was running through an empty building. It was one corridor after another and no rooms opened up off of any of them. He ran to the end of the corridor and then turned into the next one and kept running. As he was running, he heard laughter; an adult male that sounded terribly familiar, an adult woman and a young child that he couldn't tell if it was a girl or boy. He ran through more corridors, turning a different direction each time. He had no idea which direction he was running in, or where he was going, but he knew he just had to keep running._

_Finally, he came to the end of a corridor and turned into a room. There were three people there; they all had their backs to him. He walked closer to see they were watching video footage of him running through the building._

_A voice coming from behind him made him spin around quickly. A man stood there. He must have been from the committee, he looked just like one of them, but his features were morphing so quickly that Ianto couldn't tell which one it was meant to be._

"_You really didn't know, did you?" the committee man laughed._

_A singsong voice behind him started chanting, "You didn't kno-ow. You didn't kno-ow."_

_Ianto spun around again to see the other three people had turned around too. The small one, the young boy, Steven, was the one taunting him. Pointing his finger at Ianto and chanting. The other two, they were Jack and his daughter Alice, had their arms around each other and were looking at Steven with pride._

"_That's right soldier," Jack said to the boy. "Ianto doesn't know anything!"_

_Jack and Alice looked at each other and burst into laughter. The committee man started laughing too. And Steven, even though he was still taunting Ianto, he was laughing too. The four of them stood there laughing at Ianto._

_They laughed and laughed and laughed…_


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the last few chapters. Even though I haven't answered them all, I have read every one and it makes my day seeing them.  
**Warning:** Chapter contains mentions of suicide.

* * *

**A Good Man**  
**Chapter 32**

Bilis Manger leant over Ianto's bed, his hands clasped tightly to the sides of Ianto's head. A manic smile was showing on his face and his eyes had partially closed as he stood there, seemingly absorbing the feelings of pain and humiliation emanating from the dreaming man below him.

"Are you sure we have to let Mr Jones go?" he asked. "Why can't we just kill him now? Why risk him and that freak stopping our plans?"

"We've discussed this," a gentle female voice said from the other side of the open doorway. "We need Mr Jones and the… freak bonded so tightly together that they feel like nothing could separate them. Just imagine how much energy that will generate for our Lord to feed off once you… rip their lives apart."

Bilis smiled at that image and nodded reluctantly.

"What happened to the one you sent back with the Dogon eye?" the girl continued.

"He has been suitably punished for his failure," he replied grimly.

"Good," she replied. "You can't change their pasts. They both have the ability to tell the differences in their memories if you continue to mess with them. You need to let events play out how they are meant to be."

Bilis took his hands away from Ianto and stood up. He looked back through the doorway, but the girl was still hidden from sight. He knew she didn't want to risk Ianto seeing her. Bilis stared at Ianto one last time and stepped away. It was time to let him wake up.

* * *

Ianto sat up with a gasp. For the first time in a while, he had woken up not feeling groggy and his mind didn't feel as fuzzy.

He looked blearily around him and noticed all the food had been removed and there were only two sealed bottles of water left behind. He started to reach out for one but stopped. Now that he was starting to think properly, he started to wonder about the food he had previously eaten and whether even this water would be safe to drink.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, but his legs felt like lead and it was a very slow process. He eventually got up and stumbled unsteadily into the ensuite. He turned on the tap and watched the water running for a moment. After deciding he didn't have a choice, he cupped his hands and took a cautious sip of the tap water. When he didn't feel any ill effects, he drank some more before washing his face.

Ianto went back to the main room and saw his phone. He switched it on again but still couldn't get any reception. He slipped the phone into his pocket as he heard the door start to open and turned to face the committee member who now stood there.

The committee member silently escorted him to the building's garage where he was placed into the back of the van again. They drove him back to the Plass, pushed him out of the van and left him standing there.

* * *

By the time Ianto had located Jack, John Ellis was dead.

Ianto was still feeling a bit disjointed and entered the Hub fully expecting to see everyone there but even though all the lights were on, no one was there. He looked at his watch and grinned self-consciously. At that time of night, of course there was no one else around, although he would have thought that Jack would be there at least. Ianto walked over to his office and sat down. He saw that Jack had logged onto his computer in the last couple of hours. Frowning, he sat down and checked the CCTV to see what had been going on.

His frown deepened as he saw an unknown older man wearing a hat going up to Gwen's desk and, after a surreptitious look around, start digging through Gwen's bag. The man seemed to have heard something that Ianto couldn't see on the CCTV footage, as he suddenly stepped back and stood up as Gwen walked up to her desk, a questioning look on her face. Ianto saw the man put something in his pocket, out of Gwen's line of sight. The two of them spoke briefly before they shook hands and the man left the Hub.

Gwen sat at her desk for a while longer working before she started to get ready to leave. She looked in her bag for something; apparently, she couldn't find whatever it was because she soon turned her bag upside down and dumped everything out onto her desk. After another frantic look through her stuff, she pushed it all back into her bag and sat there looking thoughtful. She rang someone on her mobile, but didn't seem to get an answer.

Eventually she got up and walked into Ianto's office. She went to the entrance to Jack's bunker and called out to him. Jack came up the ladder quickly and spoke to Gwen. She started talking and gesturing angrily back towards her desk. Jack looked at her briefly, before they moved further into Ianto's office, to a position where the CCTV deliberately didn't cover. Ianto assumed that was when Jack had used his computer.

Jack came rushing back around Ianto's desk, grabbing his coat from the hanger in Ianto's office, where he had taken to hanging it lately. Gwen followed close behind him and they made their way to the garage. After both of them drove off in the SUV, Ianto was no longer able to follow them on the Hub's internal CCTV.

Ianto logged onto their GPS tracking software and found where the SUV was currently located. According to satellite photos, the SUV was parked just outside an abandoned shop. Ianto noticed that Gwen's car also was at the shop, but parked inside the garage. Ianto rang Jack's phone but didn't get an answer. Curious, Ianto decided to trace Jack's phone and discovered it was in the exact same location as Gwen's car. Why would Jack be in Gwen's car in a garage? He tried ringing Gwen next and also got no answer. Her phone didn't show up in a GPS scan either, meaning it was either damaged or switched off.

Grabbing his phone and the spare keys for the SUV, Ianto called for a taxi and went out to the shop. He found the SUV straightaway, but no one was in it. He circled the building and located the garage. Ianto double-checked his PDA; this was where Gwen's car was, and Jack was still inside the car. He reached out to open the door but stopped when a feeling of dread gripped him. Why was Jack in her car, in a closed garage, in some random shop, he asked himself again? A voice from his nightmare rang out in his head. _You didn't kno-ow._ What – _who_ – was he going to see when he opened that door?

When he finally rolled the door open, Ianto didn't know whether to be relieved or angry. The last thing he had expected to see was Jack sitting in the front seat of the car holding another man's hand. He wasn't sure if he would rather have found Jack there with Gwen.

Ianto pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and covered his mouth and nose before entering the garage. The garage was full of exhaust fumes from Gwen's car. The unknown man, who Ianto now recognised from the CCTV footage, had been dead for a while. There was nothing Ianto could do for him. Ianto opened the car doors and switched off the engine. He went around to the other side of the car and checked on Jack; he was dead too and Ianto wasn't sure how long it would take for him to revive.

Ianto stood up straight and placed his arms on the top of the car, resting his head on his forearm. He was still feeling a bit woozy from his time with the committee and the fumes in the garage were making him feel even worse. He considered going outside to escape the fumes, but decided against it, as he wanted to be there when Jack woke up.

As he waited, he tried to make sense of what had happened. The man was obviously someone Jack and Gwen trusted, since he had been allowed free access to the Hub, but who was he? Why was Jack sitting in a car with him while he apparently committed suicide? And who was he to Jack, that they were holding hands?

A while later Ianto felt the car rock slightly beneath him as Jack gasped back into life. He stood there a few minutes longer to let Jack recover a bit and build his strength back up. Ianto was about to lean down and help Jack out of the car when he felt Jack's arms wrap themselves around his waist underneath his jacket. Ianto stood still, not wanting Jack to feel like he was trying to pull away. He moved one of his arms off the top of the car and gently rubbed the back of Jack's head when he felt the man shuddering against him. Whatever had gone on here tonight, it had obviously shaken Jack, and Ianto immediately put all his doubts aside to simply concentrate on comforting and looking after him.

Jack finally got out of the car but he just stood there, staring into the distance. Ianto tried to get his attention but didn't get any response. Ianto watched him a few seconds longer before putting a hand on Jack's cheek and caressing it gently. Jack blinked several times and glanced at Ianto briefly, but didn't respond beyond that. Ianto sighed and moved away to start the clean up.

Jack continued to stare out into the distance. He was aware of Ianto moving around him, and he knew he should really be helping out, but he couldn't bring himself to move. Memories of John kept playing through his head over and over: unpacking his suitcase in the motel room, their conversations at the pub, holding him when he was overcome by not being able to complete a seemingly simple a task as counting out the correct change for the bus.

The only time he stirred was when it came time to move John's body as there was no way Ianto could move him on his own. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't want anyone else handling the body anyway. Not even Ianto.

Jack lifted John's body out of Gwen's car and, with Ianto's assistance, gently placed him in the back of the SUV to take him back to the Hub. Ianto locked up the garage behind them; they would deal with the car in the morning.

"She's been wanting a new car for a while anyway," Ianto remarked as they drove off. It was the first words spoken between them that night but Jack still didn't reply. Ianto looked over at Jack then gently squeezed his knee before concentrating on the road.

When they got back to the Hub, Jack helped Ianto put John in the Autopsy Room, ready for Owen to deal with in the morning. After he left the Autopsy Room, he stood outside Ianto's office feeling lost. He didn't want to go down into his bunker; he wanted to leave, he wanted to get out of there, he wanted to leave Torchwood and never come back. He just… He looked at the cogwheel door longingly. This whole thing just wasn't fair. This wasn't his time either, and sometimes he felt just as unable to cope with it as John had. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have the luxury of the same "escape clause" that John had.

Ianto stood patiently beside Jack, waiting for him to notice him. Ianto could see Jack was still working through things, and he knew better than to disturb him. When Jack finally looked at him, rather than through him, Ianto took his hand and led him down to the showers. Jack followed him but didn't react beyond that. When they got to the showers he stood there blankly, his mind still elsewhere. Ianto nodded in recognition and started undressing the two of them. When they were both naked, he turned on the shower. The fact that Jack hadn't made any lewd comments about them being naked together showed all too clearly that Jack was not in his normal headspace. That made two of us, Ianto thought.

Ianto gently washed Jack, gradually ridding him of the smell of carbon dioxide. He washed Jack's hair, massaging his scalp all over and taking a lot longer than he needed when he finally felt Jack beginning to relax. At one stage, Ianto wasn't sure if the water running down Jack's cheeks was from the shower or was actually tears, but he didn't comment. When he felt Jack begin to shudder again, he stopped what he was doing and held Jack tightly against him, letting him cry on his shoulder. Neither of them knew how long they stood there; not even the water going cold enough was enough to move them.

When Jack had got himself back under control, they got out of the shower and put on the clothes Ianto had placed there before he had brought Jack down. Ianto led Jack back up the Hub and sat him on the sofa while he went and cleaned out the SUV. When he came back he was disappointed, but not surprised, to see that Jack had still not moved. Ianto urged him into the garage then back into the vehicle and drove them back to his flat.

Jack still didn't respond as they sat down in the kitchen and Ianto asked him if he wanted anything to eat, but he accepted the cup of hot chocolate Ianto handed him and drank it slowly.

By the time Jack had finished his drink, Ianto could barely stay awake. The number of nightmares he'd had while with the committee had left him exhausted. He took Jack into the bedroom and they got ready for bed. Jack got into the bed first and lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Ianto got in next to him and went to curl up against Jack's side. He tried not to feel hurt that Jack continued to lie there, not acknowledging Ianto's presence. Even though he knew Jack was upset about whatever had happened, after his time with the committee Ianto needed the comfort of Jack's arms too. He placed a hand on Jack's chest.

"Jack?" he asked quietly.

Jack continued to lie there a few moments longer, before covering Ianto's hand with his own.

"Not tonight," he replied just as quietly. "I'll tell you tomorrow." With that, he gripped Ianto's hand a bit tighter and rolled onto his side facing away from Ianto, wrapping Ianto's arm around him as he did so.

Ianto snuggled up behind Jack and pressed a soft kiss onto his back. "OK," he agreed.

It was a long time before either of them fell asleep.

* * *

In the morning, Ianto awoke to find that Jack had gone. His side of the bed was cold, meaning he had been gone for a while.

Ianto reached for a piece of paper lying on Jack's pillow and read it quickly before laying back down again. The note simply said he had gone to get some air. Ianto lay there for a while before looking at the note thoughtfully again. All it said was that Jack had needed some air, not that he wanted to be alone. Ianto got dressed and made his way to the building where he hoped he would find Jack.

* * *

Jack stood on the roof of his chosen building, watching as the sun began to rise over the city. After having spent most of the night lying awake, thinking about his conversation with John in the garage the night before, he needed to take some time to sort out the thoughts running through his head.

His thoughts had progressed since his initial reaction to John's suicide. The night before all Jack could think was that it wasn't fair that John could escape, but he couldn't. The morning light had brought a new perspective for Jack.

John Ellis had been unable to cope with being sent fifty years into the future. He felt that he had lived his life already, when he was meant to, and he just didn't want to do it all over again.

Jack had been sent over three thousand years into his past, the differences that John had had to deal with were nothing compared to what Jack had experienced, yet he was in a much better position to cope with the jump in time than John had been.

Jack was no stranger to travelling in either time or space; John had never even heard of the concepts. Jack had changed his name and identity so many times that it was second nature to him; John's entire life and who he was, was reflected in his name and he couldn't let it go.

Jack took a deep breath as he felt the morning breeze flowing gently around him, washing away the last of the negative thoughts he'd had during the night and leaving him feeling refreshed. And as he heard the roof access door open and the hesitant footsteps coming up behind him, Jack realised the main reason why he was better able to cope than John. John's entire family was either dead or an empty shell; Jack had some living relatives, but more importantly than that, he had the support of the man standing behind him.

Jack had woken sometime during the night to hear Ianto having another nightmare. He realised, with a stab of guilt, that after having been detained by the committee for nearly two days, Ianto would most likely have been through something fairly traumatic himself, yet that had been ignored as Ianto had taken care of Jack without a second thought.

Jack had rolled over and pulled Ianto into his arms and held him tight. Ianto had begun to calm down almost straight away and didn't wake up. Still lost in his negative thoughts, Jack felt even worse for not having paid any attention to whether Ianto was suffering. When he woke up, just before dawn, Jack was still holding on to Ianto. His desire to flee had gone, but he still needed to get out for a while. He left Ianto a note, knowing that Ianto would be able to work out where to find him.

He turned around and looked at Ianto who was standing back, keeping well clear of the edge of the building. Ianto clearly still needed to talk, but Jack could see nothing but concern for him in Ianto's face. Jack smiled tentatively at him.

"Come here," he said, holding a hand out to Ianto.

Ianto stepped forward and Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto.

"Sorry about last night," Jack said.

Ianto held on to Jack tightly, still not entirely comfortable with where they were standing. "We can talk about it later," he answered back. "Everything will be fine."

Jack lifted Ianto's face and kissed him deeply. And for one wild moment, he actually believed it.


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note:** Grr! The file I had all my notes on for this story seems to have died, so I've lost a lot of work I had done and have spent the last couple of weeks reconstructing what I had. :'(

Sorry this chapter is so short; it wraps up _Out of Time_ and ushers in _Combat_.

**A Good Man**  
**Chapter 33**

The sudden sound of Jack's phone ringing brought their kiss to an abrupt end. Jack reluctantly reached into his coat pocket to pull out his phone with one hand, his other arm keeping a firm hold around Ianto's waist.

"Gwen," he mouthed in response to Ianto's curious look.

Jack and Ianto kept their eyes locked on to the others and their arms around each other, during Jack's conversation with Gwen. After a couple of days apart, neither man was in any rush to let the other go.

The phone call with Gwen had started out friendly enough but, as she asked how it went with John and she heard about his death, her mood soured. When Jack moved the phone away from his ear, it became obvious she had changed to all out fury, having just been told what happened to her car.

Ianto playfully poked his tongue out at Jack; after having suffered through more than one of her tirades over the past few months, he knew exactly how Jack felt. Jack gave him a look of mock anger and then, with a cheeky grin at Ianto, he told Gwen that Ianto would love to help her out, now that he was back from his trip. Jack switched his phone to loudspeaker just in time for Ianto to hear her say she would most definitely be speaking to Ianto the very moment she saw him.

After Gwen had hung up and Ianto's phone rang almost immediately, Jack burst into laughter at the filthy look Ianto gave him. Ianto raised an eyebrow though as he looked at who was calling.

"It's Owen," he said in surprise. "Maybe she dropped her phone and picked up the wrong one," he added with a grin.

Jack just smiled agreeably back at him, not yet willing to tell him that Gwen's place in Owen's bed had most likely been replaced by someone else. Ianto's grin, however, faded away as he listened to what Owen was telling him.

It seemed that John Ellis was not the only one unable to cope with their "new world".

* * *

On the drive back to the Hub, Jack had filled Ianto in on the basics of what had happened over the last couple of days with the three travellers. He didn't go into the full details about John's suicide, or the reasons for it, as the previous night was still a bit raw for him. He promised Ianto he would tell him about what happened a bit later that evening.

He was more willing however to tell Ianto what he knew about the two ladies, especially the fact that Owen seemed to have fallen heavily for the pilot, Diane Holmes.

Piecing together this information with what Owen said on the phone left Ianto feeling troubled. If Owen had fallen for this Diane woman so quickly and she was, as Owen had said, about to fly her plane back into the rift, Owen would be devastated. Losing Diane so irrevocably, after the tragic death of his fiancée – who knew what effect that could have on the already volatile young man.

It seemed there was more hope for Emma though. She had an emotional start, when it first sunk in that she was never going to see anyone she had previously known ever again. After Gwen took her under her wing – including having a somewhat embarrassing sex talk – she ended up fitting in with the new times better than the other two.

Being the youngest of the three, she was better able to adapt and had even managed to score herself a job. Gwen had told Jack on the phone that initially she had been reluctant to let her travel all the way to London alone, but after a fight with Rhys last night she was reconsidering that decision.

When Ianto and Jack arrived at the Hub, only Tosh was there. Her face lit up with a gentle smile as she saw Ianto walking in with Jack.

"Welcome back," she said to Ianto as she walked over to the men.

"Thanks!" Ianto replied.

Knowing that Gwen would most likely be in later than normal, given that she didn't have her car, Ianto decided to take Jack and Tosh into the boardroom to give Tosh an update on what had happened overnight.

Tosh was upset that John had chosen to kill himself but, as she thought about it, it didn't really surprise her. She could almost feel the despair rolling off John when he had come back from the nursing home after visiting his son Alan, and she realised that this would have been the final straw for him.

Tosh also felt sorry for Jack, having been the one to discover the dead man in Gwen's car. Ianto and Jack had decided that would be best way to report the discovery, given that Jack's immortality was still a secret to the team.

But overriding all that was Tosh's concern for Owen. While her relationship with Suzie had gone a long way to helping her get over her unrequited feelings for Owen, she still cared about him very much and didn't want him hurt again. She resolved to keep an eye on Owen whenever he came back. Ianto had given him the day off, knowing that if he didn't manage to convince Diane to stay, he would be in no condition to work.

Not long after they updated Tosh, Gwen called through to say that she too wouldn't be in until later that afternoon. Not, as Ianto first thought, because she didn't have her car, but because she had realised she was going to have to let Emma go. Thinking things through, she had changed her mind about not allowing Emma to take the job with the London fashion house. She was helping Emma arrange the journey to London and would take her to the bus terminal afterwards.

That made for a very quiet morning at the Hub. Tosh busied herself with the rift predictor programme she had been working on for some time. Ianto took the time to read through the reports for the last couple of days and catch up on paperwork while Jack disappeared down into the lower levels somewhere. He told Ianto he had some outstanding repairs to be done, but Ianto knew that he really just wanted to be alone for a while longer. Jack was still processing what had happened the previous night and would be back up when he was ready.

Ianto also took some time to think through what he had been told by the committee. He deliberated over whether he should tell Jack he knew about Alice and Steven or if he should just let it go. He understood that Jack was a man with many secrets, but he had hoped that by now he would be someone with whom Jack would feel comfortable to share those secrets.

Just after lunch, he heard the cogwheel door slide open, announcing Gwen's arrival. He looked up to see that Jack had also come back upstairs again. Jack handed him an envelope that Ianto had sent him out to get when he bought the lunches.

"Thanks," he smiled at Jack as he stood up. Ianto was encouraged to see Jack smile back at him; it had been a while since Jack had smiled a genuine smile. Ianto hoped it meant he was starting to recover from the shock of John's suicide.

Gwen looked up to Ianto's office to see him standing in the doorway, with Jack just behind him. She had just taken a tentative step towards them when Ianto called down to her.

"How did it go?" he asked.

Gwen shrugged noncommittally. "OK, I guess. She really wanted to go. It's something she never would have had the chance to do if she was still back in the fifties. I guess…" Gwen paused slightly, trying to work out what to say. "I guess it wasn't really up to me whether she went or not. I had to let her go."

She looked away from Ianto as a vision of Emma bouncing up and down excitedly saying _"London, Gwen"_. How could she argue with the joy and excitement radiating from the young girl? She knew what her response would have been, if someone had tried to stop her from following her dreams. Gwen had to content herself with knowing that she had bought Emma had a return ticket to Cardiff, so she could get back if things went wrong in London.

The last few days had been a bit of a revelation to Gwen. If she had thought that Jack and Owen were becoming distant from her before, they were now positively isolated. Owen seemed to have disappeared with Diane for most of the week, and Jack just didn't seem the same without Ianto around.

The only one who seemed to treat her the same as normal, and who so clearly loved her just as much as ever, was Rhys. And she had nearly spoiled that by lying to him about who Emma was. Rhys had still been angry with her in the morning, and she really needed to spend some time with him to sort things out with him.

Gwen had felt that she couldn't turn her back on Emma, but she was finding it increasingly hard to keep Torchwood separate from her real life. They were two separate worlds, yet they kept crashing together in unexpected ways.

Gwen looked back up at Ianto and Jack standing in the office. They did sort of look good together, she thought begrudgingly. And as for Owen… She glanced around the Hub and couldn't see any evidence that he had even been in today. She had begun to think her affair with Owen was not one of the best decisions she had ever made.

Ianto and Jack came down the stairs and stood in front of her. Ianto handed her an envelope which Gwen looked at curiously before ripping it open. A smile crossed her face as she read the vouchers inside.

"Thanks!" she said in surprise.

Ianto had bought her some vouchers to take care of her car: a thorough clean up of the interior and upholstery as well a full detailing, wax and polish the outside of the car.

"I hope that will make your car presentable again, after what happened. Or, if you still want to get a new car, it can wait until you get one."

Gwen smiled once more. "Thanks again Ianto."

Not long after that, Ianto sent Tosh and Gwen home for the day. With Owen gone for the day, and not much else happening, he didn't see the point of keeping them hanging around. He told Gwen to take Rhys out for dinner and promised her that she would not be called in if anything happened that night.

Ianto promised Tosh a night off the following week as well; he had an inkling that she might want some time off as well. He'd had a call from his friend in UNIT, Major Tomich, that they were just about to release Suzie Costello after having served her punishment time.

Ianto and Jack also left the Hub for the night, after having the rift alerts diverted to Ianto's PDA. Together, they cooked some dinner and settled down in the lounge room to eat. They had just started to eat when Ianto's PDA started beeping loudly. Sighing in annoyance, he grabbed the device and looked at the display before showing it to Jack. Jack groaned in response.

"Looks like we're going weevil hunting…"


	34. Chapter 34

_In loving memory of my niece, Angel Grace, born sleeping May 18th 2013. RIP._

* * *

**A Good Man**

**Chapter 34**

When Gwen was suspended and off chasing ghosts, Ianto and Jack had spent practically the entire weekend chasing Weevils. The rapport they had developed in their personal relationship easily transferred itself to their professional relationship.

They found they worked well together, instinctively falling into a routine in a short amount of time. Jack soon learnt Ianto's strengths and weaknesses, and how he would react in certain circumstances. Similarly, Ianto had quickly worked out Jack's methods of dealing with the same situations. It didn't take them long to be able to know what the other was going to do without any words being exchanged.

That night, as Jack ran down the alleyway and trapped the Weevil they were chasing in a dead-end, he knew exactly where Ianto would be. He trusted him to know when to have his stun gun ready or when to have his gun out instead.

Jack stopped running and watched the Weevil with a half-grin on his face.

"Hate to break it to you, but you're not my first!" Jack heard Ianto snigger behind him as he taunted the Weevil. He held up an item in each hand and showed them to the Weevil in turn. "Anti-Weevil spray. Hand clamps."

The Weevil jumped off the stack of pallets it had crouched on and hissed at Jack. Jack heard Ianto readying the stun gun.

"Come on, let's make this easy for all of us," Jack continued.

Suddenly the Weevil went on the attack and rushed at Jack, its sharp claws scratching long, deep gouges into his chest. Through his pain, he heard Ianto's sharp intake of breath.

Ianto was torn; he knew he had to maintain his position to keep the Weevil trapped, but he wanted to see if Jack was all right. While he knew that Jack would not be permanently injured, he was still in pain and Ianto wanted to be able to help him. He and Jack looked at each other for a moment and the Weevil took the opportunity to make an escape. Pushing Ianto and Jack aside, it ran out of the dead-end and into the street, soon disappearing from sight.

Jack groaned in pain and frustration but still had a grin for Ianto. "Ahhh… This always happens when you give them the night off!"

Ianto smiled back at him and they turned and chased after the Weevil.

* * *

A few blocks away, Gwen and her boyfriend Rhys were sitting at an outdoor restaurant. Rhys was ranting about the food; his steak hadn't been cooked enough for his liking and it reminded him of a time when the two them had gone to Paris and had the same thing happen.

Gwen was not listening to him though. Her mind kept drifting back to how strained things had become between Owen and herself, and she still wasn't entirely convinced that letting Emma go was the best decision.

For Rhys, unfortunately, this disconnection between them had become a regular occurrence. He would often be talking away and Gwen would simply not be listening. He wondered if it was something he'd done… or not done. Rhys was starting to get fed up and that night, as Gwen was sitting there looking at him like she'd rather be anywhere else than with him, he finally lost his temper.

He had just started venting his frustrations, embarrassing Gwen in the process, when he noticed a strange-looking creature running down the middle of the street. He frowned when he saw two men chasing it; one of the men looked like he was wearing that flashy coat one of Gwen's co-workers always wore.

"What the hell was that?" Rhys asked.

Gwen turned around and saw Jack standing out in the road, with Ianto hovering nearby. She smiled at them both as she stood up.

Jack noticed Gwen standing there and pointed her out to Ianto.

"Should we grab her while we're here?" he asked Ianto.

Ianto looked over at Gwen and Rhys. She pointed at herself as if to ask whether she was needed. Ianto shook his head at her.

"No, it's her night off," Ianto replied, taking note of the indignant look that appeared on Rhys' face when it became obvious that Gwen wanted to join them. "She needs to stay with Rhys."

Gwen looked disappointed when Ianto signalled no, but sat back down again regardless.

"Rhys, that was Jack and my boss, Ianto."

Rhys nodded sullenly. He had seen how eager Gwen had been to go running off with the two men. He stared back at Gwen without speaking.

"They're working a case. They would've needed my help," she tried again to make him understand.

Rhys sighed. "You're with me tonight. One night off. You promised." He couldn't help a bit of petulance creeping into his voice as he spoke.

Gwen grabbed her bag and then put it down again. By now, she was just as angry as Rhys. They glared at each other for a few moments before Gwen looked away. Slowly, and reluctantly, her thoughts started going back over to earlier in the day when she had begun to realise that out of the men in her life, the only one that was committed to her and loved her, was Rhys. Owen and Jack had other distractions.

She forced her anger back and smiled as calmly as she could at him. "You're right. I'm sorry." She placed a hand on Rhys' forearm and looked at him earnestly. "Let's just go home."

Rhys glared at her a few moments longer; then a slow smile crept across his face. He never could stay mad at her when she looked at him like that. Calling for the bill, they stood up and left the restaurant.

* * *

Ianto and Jack continued running after the Weevil. They skidded around a corner and stopped as Ianto used his PDA to check for signs of the Weevil. Jack looked at the screen with him.

"There!" Jack shouted. "Three hundred metres on the right, car park!"

Ianto and Jack ran into the car park and looked around urgently for the Weevil. Ianto spotted it running in the distance and pointed it out to Jack. They started running after the Weevil again but before they had a chance to get close, a white van with blue markings drove up and screeched to a halt near the Weevil.

Before the Weevil had a chance to react, three men dressed in black and armed with electric cattle prods poured out of the van and subdued the Weevil. The men shoved the Weevil in the van and then got back in themselves and drove away.

Ianto and Jack started to run after the van, but were soon left behind. They stood there panting with the exertion of the chase.

"Who the hell were they?" Jack asked.

They stood there looking after the van helplessly. Neither of them had an answer.

The two men walked quickly back to the SUV, both of them noting that Gwen and Rhys were no longer at the restaurant as they walked past. Once in the SUV Jack drove them back to the Hub as Ianto called Tosh and Owen in. They would have to work out exactly who the people kidnapping the Weevils were.

* * *

When Gwen arrived at the Hub the next morning, she soon realised that Ianto, Jack and Tosh had worked through the night. Owen was nowhere to be seen.

"We tried calling him over and over but he never answered," Tosh said in answer to Gwen's question about where Owen was.

Gwen tried ringing him herself. "Owen's still not answering his phone," she said in frustration.

"Well, he's been even more erratic than usual since that thing with Diane," Tosh carried on with her work to avoid looking at Gwen as she spoke.

"Since the what?"

Toshiko got up and walked away quickly.

"It's none of my business."

Gwen followed her.

"What thing? What thing, Tosh?"

Tosh sighed in resignation. "Owen and Diane. Before she took the plane, they had a... thing. You knew that, right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course I knew that. I just didn't know they had a 'thing' thing." Gwen tried to sound nonchalant, but her insides were tying themselves in knots. The man she was cheating on Rhys with had cheated on her? She didn't know whether to feel angry or relieved. Angry that Owen had gone behind her back, or relieved that now this whole sordid affair would finally be over.

Ianto and Jack coming back into the main area after being in Ianto's office for a while distracted both of their attentions. Tosh showed the three of them where the van had gone. She had discovered it had gone straight from the car park out to the docks at Cardiff Bay. Ianto sent her and Jack out there to investigate.

When they came back, they brought a dead man with them. The man appeared to have been killed by Weevils and Ianto wanted an autopsy performed to see what else they could find out.

"Tell Owen to get his bony little arse over here now," Jack said as Ianto called Owen one more time.

Reeking of alcohol and insolence, Owen finally made his way back to the Hub and did the autopsy. The autopsy only raised more questions when it became obvious that humans had also done a fair bit of damage to the man's body before the Weevil or Weevils had got to it.

Gwen was sent to tell the man's family of his death. Owen was instructed to go with her, but he sat silently in the SUV the whole time. When she left the dead man's residence, she felt emotionally drained. The argument with Rhys last night, the realisation that the fling between her and Owen were effectively over and her inability to separate work from her personal life were all taking its toll.

She looked at Owen, disappointed by his lack of support. She shook her head.

"Why are we still doing this, me and you?" she asked.

Owen finally bothered to look at her. "Fine, let's not. I was getting bored of your fuck-tricks anyway." Owen opened the car door and got out the vehicle.

Gwen's temper flared. "You can be such a wanker sometimes, Owen, do you know that?"

"I do, as a matter of fact," he shouted as he slammed the car door and stalked off.

Gwen started the car and drove off with a screech of the wheels that would have made even Jack proud.

* * *

By the time Owen finally made it back to the Hub again, Toshiko had come up with a plan. She had set Owen up with a fake identity and matching website, ready to infiltrate the estate agency that was looking after the warehouse where they had discovered the body. Tosh had realised that the people using the warehouse must have known it was empty, meaning they either owned it or they had previous contact with the actual estate agents.

After Owen had left and planted the device that enabled them to hack into the estate agent's computer system, there was not much else the rest of the Torchwood team could do. Owen would be meeting with Mark Lynch, one of the owners of the estate agency, later that night so it was just a matter of waiting for Owen to do his stuff. Ianto said everyone could go home for the afternoon; they would all need to come back in the evening to be ready to act, if Owen sent the word.

Gwen left as soon as she could, but Tosh decided to stick around a bit longer. She had noticed a surge of unusual injuries being reported at the A&E unit. The victims had had chunks taken out of their legs and arms, and deep wounds to their backs and stomachs. She thought it looked like there had been a surge of Weevil attacks, just one more thing to add to their problems.

Ianto headed down to Jack's bunker to have a shower. When he got back up to his office, his attention was drawn by a package sitting on his desk. The package had arrived a couple of days before the committee called him away. He knew who it was from and what it was, but he hadn't had a chance to open it yet as he needed Jack to not be around when he did.

He went to leave the office, when something else caught his attention. Something on his desk wasn't right. He looked at it, and everything on it, carefully. It looked like something had moved. He looked at everything again, his eyes eventually falling on the container of retcon on his desk. Ianto reached out and tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the top. The container was only out because he needed to refill it, there were only a couple of tablets left in there. His fingers grabbed on to the lid and he picked up the container. Having a look inside he frowned when he saw two tablets were missing.

He looked out his office to Tosh sitting at her workstation, Jack was standing beside her, looking at what was on her monitor and Gwen was long gone. Would one of them have taken the tablets? It wouldn't have been Owen because he had access to his own supply as the team doctor. He couldn't see Jack or Tosh taking them without letting him know. That left Gwen, but he couldn't see why she would need the retcon.

Tosh turned slightly in her chair and called out to him as soon as she saw him. Ianto had to out aside the question of who had taken the tablets for a while as Tosh had tracked down another set of suspicious injuries reported at the hospital. Ones that sounded pretty bad. Ianto decided he would go with Jack to the hospital to interview the victim.

They returned a couple of hours later, having not been able to get any useful information out of the victim. Tosh had to laugh as Jack was joking around about how well he and Ianto did the good cop/bad cop routine.

Jack nudged Tosh on the arm. "Although, obviously, Ianto's the good cop, he's too cute to be the bad cop!"

Ianto rolled his eyes at that but a pleased smile crossed his face.

"Come on you two," Ianto said to change the subject. "Let's go get some dinner. It's up to Owen now."

* * *

On their way back from dinner, Gwen called through on the comms. The three of them looked at each other in confusion. No one was supposed to be at the Hub.

"What are you doing there? I told you to go home," Ianto asked.

Gwen ignored the question and started telling them what she had found out. "There's a text message that's just come through on Dan Hodges' phone. Charlie Foxtrot One Zero Six Bravo Yankee."

Tosh started entering the information into her PDA.

"Seems to be a postcode for a building. One that's gonna have a Lynch Frost sign outside," Gwen finished.

"OK, I've got the location," Tosh informed them.

Jack looked over to Ianto who nodded back at him. "Gwen, we'll pick you up on the way."

"So, people get in the loop by text message and they head to a property…" Ianto began.

"A property Mark Lynch knows is empty," Tosh finished off for him.

Jack nodded. "So the question is: what happens when they get there?"

The two men looked at each other. On the way back from the hospital, Jack had wanted to send their resident Weevil Janet out with a tracker in her boiler suit and leave her in the car pack where the unknown men had captured the other Weevil. He thought that way they would be able to track down where the men had taken it. Ianto quickly vetoed that idea, saying there was no telling what would happen. He wanted to find another way of tracking the men down.

It seemed they had found that alternate way after all.

* * *

Bilis Manger relaxed back in his chair in the office at 'A Stitch in Time' and smiled in satisfaction.

"Only a few more days to go," said the girl sitting across the table from him.

Bilis' smile grew impossibly wider and even eviller than the girl could ever have imagined possible.

"Yes, indeed," Bilis said. "Only a few more days, and one hundred and eleven years of waiting will finally come to an end. As will that damned freak, and his beloved Mr Jones. Their time is done. The time for our Lord to rise approaches!"

The girl smiled joyfully with him. "And you, his loyal Servant, will finally get everything you deserve."

Bilis looked at her. "I have devoted my life to my Lord, that is reward enough."

The girl nodded agreeably. Just a few more days…


	35. Chapter 35

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone for the reviews and kind words after the last chapter. It's very much appreciated.

**A Good Man**  
**Chapter 35**

A locked door was all that greeted the Torchwood team when they arrived at the building. Other than a familiar looking white van with blue markings, there was nothing to show this building was even being used. There were no parked cars crowding the streets, no lights were visible from the street and there was no noise coming from within. Gwen had suggested calling Owen again on the way over to confirm this was the right place, but as she didn't want to speak to him after their break-up, she didn't push it when no one bothered responding. The team got out of the SUV and stood by the front door, looking around the area and each other in confusion.

"You sure this is the right place Gwen?" Jack asked eventually.

"Positive," she replied, eyes wide.

Ianto turned to Tosh, who was already scanning the area. "Tosh?"

She nodded in acknowledgment. "I'm detecting about thirty to forty life signs." She paused as she finished checking her readings. "Looks like there's a Weevil in there too. Life signs show that it's in a highly agitated state." She paused again and then gave Ianto a concerned look. "It's in a lot of pain."

While Tosh was scanning the building, Jack started working on getting the door opened. By the time she had finished, the door was open and the sounds of people cheering came flooding out. The team entered the building; ready to find Owen and confident they were prepared to deal with whatever was inside.

Before the night was out though, Owen was in hospital and they were stunned by what they had found.

All of them were shocked that Owen had voluntarily entered the cage to face the Weevil. They knew he was upset at losing Diane, but not to the extent that he would be content to, or even eager to, die because of it.

They also had an additional two Weevils to put in the cells. There was one that was in the cage and another one Tosh had found chained up at Mark Lynch's house. Neither of them could be released back into the sewers again. Now that they had both been used to attack humans, there was no way they could ever be set free.

After the majority of the reports for the case had been completed, Ianto sent Tosh and Gwen home for the night and gave them the next day off as well. Jack was still down in the cells getting the Weevils settled into their new homes. Ianto went into his office, taking the opportunity to sort out some of the paperwork that had been waiting for him.

Noticing that the container of Retcon on the desk had been moved slightly again, he was surprised to see the missing tablets had been returned. He stood in the office doorway and looked down at Tosh and Gwen who were still preparing to leave. Gwen turned around and saw him looking at them. When she noticed the Retcon container in Ianto's hand, she looked away hurriedly and turned abruptly, nearly dropping her handbag in the process. Her reaction seemed to confirm for him that it had in fact been her who had taken the tablets. He wondered once again why she would have taken it. He'd talk to her the day after tomorrow, after their day off, he decided.

Waving good night to the two women, he went back into his office and picked up the package on the desk. He still hadn't decided the best way to deal with what was in there. Taking the opportunity while Jack was not around, he quickly undid the packaging. Looking inside, he smiled when he saw what was in there and then pulled out the letter that accompanied it. Skimming through the letter, he was pleased to see it contained the information he needed. Hearing Jack's footsteps coming back up the stairs, he opened the Secure Archives and placed the package in the container 1899-CJH-01. He slipped the letter into his pocket to re-read later on and closed the archives again, just in time for Jack to enter the office.

"All set?" Jack queried.

Ianto nodded. "Yep. Let's go."

They left the Hub and went back to Ianto's flat. While Ianto tidied up after the previous night's abandoned meal, Jack got himself ready for bed. They were both tired and catching up on sleep was all that either one had the energy for.

When Ianto got into his bedroom, he saw that Jack was already in bed. He was lying on his side facing away from Ianto and didn't acknowledge him entering the room. Ianto was disappointed, but not really surprised. He had hoped that after the events of the past few days, they would finally get the chance to catch up, but they were both exhausted after the day's activities.

Ianto still hadn't decided whether to mention that he knew about Alice and Steven, or to just leave it. He wanted to think that Jack would tell him of his own accord, but there was a niggling doubt in the back of his mind. Jack had not felt able to trust anyone for a very long time and Ianto had hoped that this time, he would be the one to change that for him.

He did know that he had to find out what had happened with John Ellis. Ianto wanted to find out more than the basic facts that Jack had put in the reports. He wanted – _needed_ – to know how John had got under Jack's skin so completely and so quickly.

Looking at Jack again though, he decided it could wait for another day. They were going to see Owen in the morning, but after that, they would have the rest of the day free. Ianto had decided they would take the day off as well as Gwen and Tosh. He and Jack would still be on call if an alert came through, but with any luck, they would have a quiet day. There would be plenty of time to talk then.

Placing a hand on Jack's hip, he leant over and kissed the side of his head before lying down to sleep.

That night Ianto dreamt of the man who had repaired Jack's stopwatch. Although something had happened in the dream that sent his heart racing in fear, he couldn't quite remember what had happened. Jack woke when the nightmare first came and he managed to wake Ianto up before it had time to take hold. The two of them fell asleep again, arms locked around each other, and Ianto didn't dream again that night.

* * *

In the morning, Ianto and Jack's first stop was to see Owen in hospital. They bought some breakfast at the hospital café before going in to see him. While they were there, Jack decided to buy Owen some grapes. The grin on Jack's face as he bought the fruit made Ianto suspicious, but when he asked Jack what was so funny he wouldn't answer. Jack just winked mischievously at Ianto and headed off towards Owen's ward.

When Jack dumped the grapes on Owen's table, the look on Owen's face was enough to tell Ianto why Jack had bought them.

"I hate grapes," Owen snarled at them.

This only made Jack laugh. Ianto rolled his eyes at them both.

Owen looked up at Ianto and Jack. Jack's smugness at giving him something he hated was counterbalanced by the concern in Ianto's eyes. Owen didn't know which one pissed him off more.

"What do you want?"

Ianto looked at him. "We came to see how you were. The doctors say you can go home."

"Doctors. What do they know, eh?" Owen looked away and shook his head. "I didn't want saving."

"You want us to apologise?" Jack asked.

Owen turned back to Ianto and Jack. "For a few seconds, in that cage, I felt totally at peace. And then you lot blunder in. Do you always know best? Is that what you believe?"

Ianto got ready to leave, there was no point arguing with Owen when he was in a mood like that. "I expect you back at work tomorrow." He and Owen stared at each other a few moments longer before Ianto turned and walked out, Jack following close behind.

Jack paused at the door and turned back as if he wanted to say something more, but Owen had already turned away and was staring out the window once again. Jack shrugged and continued after Ianto.

When they got into the SUV, they went back to the Hub to check how the new Weevils had settled in.

While Jack was down in the cells, Ianto sat in his office going through some emails. Police reports showed a number of calls reporting music from the 1940's coming from The Ritz, a building that had been derelict since 1989. When Jack came back up from the cells, he called him in to show him.

"You want me to go and look into it?" Jack asked him.

Ianto nodded. "It can wait until tomorrow morning though. You can take Tosh with you."

Jack frowned. "I thought she'd been allowed to go to her grandfather's birthday party tomorrow?"

"She has, but she said she would work until lunch time and then go. Don't think she wants to be there too early. Plus with Suzie coming back sometime during the morning, it'll mean a nice surprise waiting for her when you two get back," Ianto grinned conspiringly at Jack.

"You haven't told her Suzie's coming back yet?" Jack asked in surprise.

"Nope, you know what UNIT's like. I didn't want to get her hopes up for nothing if they change their minds at the last minute.

"All you'll need to do is take a quick trip out to the Ritz to confirm there's nothing alien there and come straight back again. When you get back, Tosh will find Suzie here. It'll cheer her up before the party."

The two men smiled at each other. It was about time something went right for the team, and they were glad that Tosh would get her loved one back.

Owen came in unexpectedly after lunch. Ianto called him up to his office to find out why he was there.

"I wasn't expecting you back until tomorrow," Ianto told him.

Owen sat there, barely able to look at Ianto. He was still angry with him and Jack for getting him out of the cage, but since they had, there was something he needed to do. "The two Weevils. What did you do with them?"

"They're downstairs in the cells. They can't be trusted to be released back into the sewers. Not now that they have trained to see humans as the enemy," Ianto replied.

Owen stood up and started walking out of the office. "I'm going to see them."

Ianto followed behind him. Jack looked over at them curiously as they left the office, wondering what was happening.

"Why?" Ianto asked.

Owen didn't answer; he just kept walking. Ianto sighed as they reached the cells and Owen opened the door. "You sure you'll be all right?" Ianto asked in concern.

Owen turned slightly and stopped Ianto going any further. "Give us a moment alone, yeah?"

Ianto looked at him before nodding and reluctantly turning away. He closed the door to the cells and raced back up to his office. Jack was in there waiting for him with the CCTV to the cells already on the screen. They both watched as Owen stood in front of the cells, eventually baring his teeth and growling at the Weevils. They were amazed to see both of the new Weevils, and Janet as well, cower away from Owen in fear.

"Well, there's something you don't see every day," Ianto commented.

Jack shook his head in wonder.

Owen came back up a few minutes later and stood in the doorway of Ianto's office. There was an uneasy silence as the three men watched each other; their troubled looks saying more to each other than any words could.

"I'll be off then," Owen eventually broke the silence.

"Errr… OK."

With one last look at Ianto and Jack, Owen turned and left the Hub. He headed for the nearest pub and stayed there until it closed.

* * *

Ianto and Jack enjoyed a quiet afternoon at the Hub together. Even though Ianto had given them both the day off too, they decided they might as well just hang around anyway. There was always work to do, and since it was quiet, it was an ideal time to catch up.

At the end of the day they decided to spend the night at Ianto's flat again. After spending most of the day at the Hub, Ianto wanted to get out for some fresh air. Jack wasn't bothered either way.

They ended up walking back to Ianto's flat, rather than taking the SUV. It wasn't raining that night, so they took a leisurely stroll back to the flat. After they had eaten, they moved onto the couch and the conversation finally got around to Jack and John Ellis.

Jack looked at Ianto, unsure of what to say.

"When the three of them first arrived," Jack began hesitantly, "John seemed to be the one who would cope the best with their new situation. He had been on his way to Dublin to close a deal on a new shop. He sold food, knick-knacks, essentials, all that kind of stuff. He had a family, he had made a place for himself in life, he knew how to be independent. He was also completely domesticated. He was the complete opposite to me.

"We took him to the motel, he started unpacking his stuff and then he brought out this portable radio. All he wanted was to hear some music. That was when…" Jack's voice trailed away as he gestured towards his coat hanging near the doorway.

"You've probably worked out by now that the 40's was one of my favourite eras on this planet."

Ianto nodded.

"The music was fantastic and the people, well, they were something else. They could have been miserable and downtrodden. But instead, they never gave up. The war was always going to be ending in a few months, and even when it didn't, they still didn't give up. They were beautiful.

"The music still played, there were always dances and other ways of thumbing their noses up at the hardships the war was causing them." Jack's voice trailed off again and he stared into the distance as he got lost in his memories.

He remembered Algy, an army officer he had spent a few months with, the last time that he had been in the 1940's as a mortal man. Jack had had to leave in a hurry after his failed attempt to sell a Chula ambulance ship and he never found out what happened to Algy. The next and last time he went through the 40's, he was immortal and a prisoner of Torchwood. He had deliberately avoided Algy so that he wouldn't see how far Jack had fallen.

Jack felt Ianto take hold of his hand. He squeezed back and smiled wanly at him. He thought about what to say next. There were so many things he wanted to tell Ianto, so many things he wanted Ianto to understand, but how to actually say it was another thing. Over 110 years of being a prisoner of Torchwood had made it hard for him to trust anyone and now he found it very difficult to bare his soul to anyone. Even to Ianto.

He sighed and started speaking again. "Well, the 50's may have seen a lot of changes but people weren't that dissimilar. The war had ended, but people still felt the effects of it. They had come off rationing, and now had all these bright and shiny new home appliances…"

Jack stopped and smiled at John's recollections of charging the lads a shilling each to view the FA Cup final live in his own home. "But they still found joy in the simple things. Things like music. When John got out that radio because all he wanted was something simple like a bit of familiar music to listen to, that's when it hit me.

"Despite his being a family man and despite me being, well, who I am, he really wasn't that dissimilar to me. We had both fallen through time; both of our times were gone. We were both alone and scared."

Ianto squeezed his hand a bit tighter. "Jack…"

Jack looked back over at him and shook his head. "I am alone Ianto. No matter who I'm with here and what I'm doing, I'm still alone. I'm so far out of my time it just doesn't seem real and I'm obviously the only one anywhere who can't die. And, just as with John, there's nothing I can do."

That was all Jack said. He looked downwards and just stopped talking. Ianto sat beside him quietly, trying to think how to tell Jack he was wrong. He looked at Jack and wanted to wipe that sad look off his face.

He got up and stood up in front of Jack. "Come on," he said, holding a hand out to Jack.

Jack stood up and they both stood there a moment looking into the other's eyes. Ianto raised his hands, placed one on either side of Jack's face and pulled him in for a kiss.

As they kissed, their bodies pressed hard against each other and they began to be aware of something else they needed to catch up on.

Jack pulled away slightly and looked into Ianto's eyes. He reached up and slowly undid Ianto's tie. He had just begun to undo the buttons of Ianto's shirt but suddenly they were kissing again, more desperately and passionately than before.

They started pulling each other towards Ianto's room, barely making it to his bed before they had stripped each other's clothing off.

Their lovemaking that night was hard and furious. There was no time for being gentle and romantic. As Jack pounded into Ianto, he was able to exorcise the demons of the past few weeks. And when he came, it felt like all the frustrations of not being able to save John came exploding out of him and were soothed away by the man lying underneath him.

Afterwards he collapsed onto the bed beside Ianto. Their hot and sweaty bodies seemed moulded to each as they clung to each other, needing as much skin on skin as possible.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Jack asked a bit later.

Ianto smiled. "I'm not some fragile flower you know."

"I know, but I've never been that rough with you before."

Ianto smiled. "It's OK, Jack. I'm fine." He moved slightly and looked at Jack before kissing him softly.

Jack finally nodded and smiled back at him tenderly. They rearranged themselves, getting ready for sleep.

Ianto lay there for a while thinking about Jack's mission the next day. "I kinda hope there is some 40's music for you there now," he murmured into Jack's chest. Jack chuckled softly.

They fell asleep soon after, feeling safe wrapped up in each other's arms.

* * *

Bilis Manger struggled to keep the sneer off his face as he waited to appear before the committee. The men had assembled in his shop for what would be the final full meeting of the committee.

Not that any of them knew that of course.

As far as they were concerned, this was just another ordinary meeting. Every single one of them were just as nervous as they had been at the last full meeting, but none of them had any idea of what was to happen.

Bilis spared one last thought for the girl sitting in his office. She still refused to let anyone else see her and, not for the first time, he wondered why. It really didn't matter though. She had done her job over the years; supplying him all the information he needed, and most importantly keeping him up to date with what that freak was doing. He had no reason to doubt her. If she didn't want to be seen, then that was her own prerogative.

The two senior committee members finished securing the room and took their place at the end of the table. Bilis materialised behind them, as he always did, and welcomed the committee to the shop, as he always did. Bilis was old fashioned and believed in always using his manners. The fact that once this week was all over, every other man in this room would be dead anyway, was entirely irrelevant.

The time for his Lord had come.


End file.
